


In Which Hunk Notices...

by StrixMoonwing



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith (Voltron), Hunk and Lance are Leg Buddies, Hunk has a serious privacy problem, Hunk/Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Keith/Lance slow burn, M/M, There should be no secrets within Voltron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-07-29 07:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 68,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7675915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrixMoonwing/pseuds/StrixMoonwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hunk notices some changes between his best friend Lance and his teammate Keith after all the Paladins are reunited once more after the dreaded Wormhole incident. The two are closer than before, but the more the Yellow Paladin sees and listens to, the more his gut instinct warns him that whatever brought Keith and Lance to bond may not be entirely good for the Voltron team....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ...The Retelling

Hunk, the Yellow Paladin of Voltron, was talented in many ways.

He was an excellent cook by almost all standards as all of his teammate would whole-hearted agree. Hunk could also proudly say that he was a talented and inventive engineer with the ability to fix almost anything if he put his mind to it. And though he knew he would never hold a candle to that of Keith or even Lance, he was a notable pilot in his own right when the situation called. But there was one aspect of himself that Hunk held in very high esteem above all else.

His gut instinct.

Oh Lance and the rest may jest at times, but Hunk knew this gut instincts of a situation were almost never wrong. His gut knew when something was wrong in a situation and Hunk would almost always regret it when he (or his friends) chose to ignore all the warning signs.

For instance, his gut had told him that it would be horrendous idea to follow Lance and Pidge away from the Garrison to follow a crashed alien aircraft in the middle of the desert. But nooo, his friends had to still drag him out there and now they're all stuck in space forced to fight a galactic, centuries-old war for the universe.

Point one for Hunk's gut.

He also knew that those space thieves had been untrustworthy from the very spot. But again, no one had believed him until his best friend's lion had gotten stolen.

Another point for Hunk's gut.

So yes, maybe Lance had the sharpest eye of the bunch, maybe Pidge had the most intellect, Keith had the most fighting skills, and Shiro was the cool leader, but Hunk could feel when something was amiss, when something felt off. Hunk was proud of this.

And right now, Hunk's gut was telling him that something weird was going on between his two friends, Keith and Lance, the Red and Blue Paladins of Voltron.

Hunk started to first notice it the night everyone reunited after the wormhole incident.

After weeks, maybe months of being isolated from one another in the vast depths of space, the reunion between Hunk, his fellow paladins, Princess Allura, and Coran was a memory that Hunk knew he'd remember with only the greatest happiness for the rest of his days. There was laughter, a lot of tears, and even a couple of kisses (Allura gave all of them a peck on the cheek and Pidge received a giant smooch on the cheek from an overjoyed Lanced. She continues to deny liking it, though the blush that always appears when it is mentioned tells a different story).

And then there are hugs…so many hugs.

For a long time it was impossible for any of them to not reach out and touch one another in some manner whether it was a hug, a playful ruffle of the hair, a warm hand on the shoulder. All of them missed each other for more than any of them had ever realized possible. Allura told them that it was part of the ancient bond of those with ability to form Voltron all share, but Hunk knew it was something far more simple. He knew that in the time they've all spent together, after all the experiences they endured as team, it was impossible them not to start regarding each other as more than friends.

They were a family.

And now they were back together once more.

After all the tears and hugs were exchanged, the stories began. All of Paladins, as well as the princess and Coran, had their adventures to share of their time alone. Hunk remembered that nobody had slept at all that night, but sat together in the common room, listening with rapt attention as each one took their turn to relate what happened after the being separated in the wormhole.

Each story was exciting, but Lance and Keith's stories were a little different from the rest of the team's. Lance and Keith had actually been able to find each other earlier on than the rest of the team had. Hunk, and he was sure the rest of team, did notice that the two rivals were definitely seemed a lot more comfortable with one another. Even before they started to speak about their adventures in space, the two had been seated side by side on the couch the entire night, shoulders always brushing.

When it was their time to speak, Keith and Lance took turns, switching during different parts of the narrative, or whenever the other was missing a detail or, in Lance's case, over-exaggerating certain parts. To everyone's surprise, though there light bickering and teasing insults exchanged, neither seriously argued with each other the entire time.

Hunk did not find it too strange. After all, everyone was in too good of mood to even think about starting any fights. Plus it was a relief to finally see two of his friends getting along so well.

However, when Keith and Lance's story took a dark, unsettling turn, Hunk began to notice something not quite right.

Apparently at one point in their adventure, Keith and the Red Lion had been abducted by the Galra but not just any Galra…

"Prince…Lotor?" Allura gasped, her blue eyes stretched out wide. Her voice shook as she exclaimed, "Zarkon has a son?!"

The news was very distressing for them all. A royal son meant even more powerful enemies for them to face in the future.

Lance nodded, grimly. "Yep, nasty little, bloodthirty slimeball too. And don't get me started on his hair." He playfully elbowed Keith, grinning. "Puts this mullet-head to shame."

Keith rolled his eyes at his companion, but Hunk saw the corners of his lips twitch.

Coran stroked his mustache thoughtfully as he tutted, "Very unsettling news, but I guess it's not unexpected. It has been ten thousands year after all. He might even have an entire army of little princes and princesses for all we know."

"Ew." Pidge deadpanned. "Thanks for that mental image."

Hunk grimaced. "I think one Zarkon is enough. Two's just pushing it!'

"Enough, guys," Shiro said. He leaned in closer from his spot on the couch, his dark gaze focused on Lance. "Tell us what happened and everything you can about this Prince Lotor. I have a feeling we're not going to see the last of him."

So Lance continued, saying how the reason Prince Lotor had specifically targeted Keith was because originally Zarkon had planned to make his son the pilot of the Red Lion. When Keith had stolen the Red Lion from the Galra ship back at the very beginning of their adventures, Prince Lotor had taken it as a personal insult since the ship had been delivering the lion to the Prince at the time.

Lance recalled with great flair how he had snuck onto the warship to try and rescue Keith. Hunk noticed that by this point Keith had stopped talking altogether, allowing Lance to take full control of the story. The content smile that had once been on the Red Paladin's face had dissolved into a deep frown. Keith looked uncomfortable, his eyes darting nervously between Lance and the rest of the group.

Hunk wanted to ask what was wrong, but was hesitant to interrupt the story when Lance had it in full swing.

The Blue Paladin had reached a part in the story where he unfortunately had been captured by Galra sentries and locked up with Keith.

"How the heck did you two manage to escape after that?" Pidge asked, leaning at the edge of her seat, green eyes bright with excitement.

It was at this point, Hunk caught Lance and Keith sharing a quick, unease glance at one another. It lasted no more than a tick. Before Hunk could process what he had seen, Lance was facing everyone again, smiling with relaxed confidence.

"Oh, it was easy." Lance continued as if the pause had never occurred. "The two of use pretended to fight, lured the guards in, and jumped them." He shrugged his shoulders in an airy manner. "Between the two of us, it was a piece of cake getting out of there. Isn't that right, Keith?" Lance asked, looking expectantly at the red paladin sitting beside him.

Despite the cheerful smile on Lance's face, Hunk saw a glimmer of concern flashing in his blue eyes.

"Umm…" The Red Paladin didn't look please to have everyone's attention drawn to him. "Yeah, it went great. No problems at all."

Keith attempted a smile, but everyone could see that it was forced.

Lance frowned but after a heartbeat immediately launched back into the daring tale of escape, successfully drawing everyone's attention away from his brooding friend. Hunk spied Keith sighing in relief.

Lance ended the story by retelling how the pompous Prince swore eternal vengeance on the two paladins as they escaped.

"He yelled that he was going to rip my head off with his bare hands while Keith watched and turn the Blue lion red with my own blood. Then make Keith pilot it before finishing him off too."

The Blue Paladin glanced around the room to see everyone besides Keith staring at him with jaws dropped and eyes wide with horror.

"…What? I told you he was a bloodthirsty slimeball!"

"Lance, you must take threats like that from a ruler very seriously!" Allura chided the Blue Paladin harshly. Despite the anger in her voice, her beautiful face was lined with worry and concern for the safety of her two friends.

Lance looked taken back for second, a light blush spread across his cheeks. But he relaxed when Keith placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We can handle whatever Prince Lotor throws out way." The Red Paladin confidently said, his violet-grey eyes lightly narrowed as if challenging anyone to argue with him.

Lance smirked smugly and leaned an elbow on Keith's shoulder. "Yep, what he said."

Shiro got up and placed a hand on each boy's shoulders. A proud smile graced his scarred face as he spoke. "I'm sure you two could, but luckily for you, next time all of us will be there to help if Prince Lotor tries to act up on that threat."

"Aww, thanks space dad."

"….Lance, please don't call me that."

"Not promising anything."

Hunk and Pidge were unsuccessfully holding back giggles when Allura stood up and clapped her hands together for attention.

"Come on Paladins. I believe it's now time for us all to rest up for the night." A fond smile rested upon her face as she gazed lovingly at each of them. "You all must be so tired from your ordeals. We can resume celebrations tomorrow."

Everyone was in full agreement. Now that the excitement had worn off, all of them could feel weariness seeping into their bones. Yawns started to come out as they all trudged their way to back to their old sleeping quarters.

After giving out the last batch of bone-crunching, goodnight hugs to all his friends, Hunk started to head to the old bedroom as well. However, right before he exited the common room, Hunk turned to look back to see if Lance was following him.

He wasn't. The Blue Paladin was still standing in the middle of the common room, huddled close to Keith as they held a quiet conversation with one another. Hunk knew he shouldn't pry, but the unusually serious expressions on their faces had caught his attention. The Yellow Paladin didn't dare move a muscle in case they noticed he still remained in the common room entrance.

Though their voices were too quiet for Hunk to fully hear, he noticed a lot of head shaking from Keith and some elaborate hand gestures from Lance's end. However, after a few ticks of eavesdropping, a couple words were whispered loud enough to carry over.

_"…Why..?"_

_"…They don't need to know…"_

_"…They can't know…."_

_"…I won't tell…"_

Hunk's gut churned uncomfortably.


	2. ...The Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Hunk share an sleepover to reconnect with one another after the long separation, but the Yellow Paladin is unprepared for the sudden twist and turns their late-night conversations start to take....

“Okay so what’s the weirdest thing you had to eat out there?”  


Hunk let out a giant huff of laughter from his spot on the floor besides Lance’s bed. Hearing giggling coming from Lance as well, Hunk felt a rush of happiness the two friends had decided on an impromptu sleepover of sorts.  


It had been about an hour since everyone else had gone to bed after the return celebration. Originally, Hunk had returned to his old bedroom and tried to go to sleep; pushing away the odd conversation he had witnessed Lance and Keith having to the back of his mind. However, after so many cycles of being forced to sleep alone on strange, alien planet, Hunk even found the isolation of own bedroom to be disturbing. With sleep evading him, Hunk had sought out the comfort and companionship of the one person he knew would probably tolerate his presence at such an odd hour.  


Lance, to Hunk’s relief, had also been having trouble sleeping. The two buddies and former roommates immediately threw some spare blankets on the floor around Lance’s bed and, once they were relaxed and comfortable, began to cheerfully chat about whatever popped into their head similar to their old bunk days at the Garrison.  


“Well?” Hunk was pulled from his thoughts by Lance’s voice. He glanced up to see Lance’s bright blue eyes peeking down at him from the edge of the bed, twinkling with mischief. “Have to eat any creepy-crawlly bugs like you did with your girlfriend Shay?”  


Hunk snorted and playfully swatted a large hand at Lance’s face. “First the last time, she’s not my girlfriend!”  


Lance ducked back and then popped his head out again, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Just a rock you admire!” His voice dropped to a playful whisper. “And want to kiss it!”  


He ducked back when Hunk threw a pillow at him.  


“Anyway, back to the question,” Hunk said, thinking back to all the odd cuisine had been forced to eat while away. “Some village on his jungle planet fed me something that looked like a monkey with octopus tentacles. Looked disgusting but kind tasted like banana for some reason.” He licked his lips at the memory, “Actually wouldn’t mind having it again.”  


Lance rolled his eyes, “Figure you’d say that.”  


Hunk grinned, “What can I say? I have exotic taste.”  


The two friends shared a laugh, warm and relaxed. Hunk enjoyed this- it was great to be able have some quality bonding time with his closest friend once again. Of course Hunk loved being all his teammates and fellow paladins, but there was certain amount of comfort that came with his old and easy friendship with Lance. The two boys had connected well with each other ever since their first day at the Galaxy Garrison- Hunk’s more cautious nature helped even out Lance’s daring attitude while Lance’s confidence always helped urge Hunk forward during his nervous breakdowns.  


“So what about you?” Hunk asked wanting to continue their game of questions, “What’s the weirdest thing you had to eat?”  


“Well it’s hard to beat the space goo Coran always makes but….” Lance’s eyes brightened as he leaned a bit closer to Hunk to whisper loudly. “Don’t tell Keith that I told you, but both me and him ate these weird pink berries with blue spots all over them…” his voice trailed off in a suspenseful manner.  


Hunk smiled and leaned forward in anticipation. “And…?”  


Lance’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “And holy quiznak you would not believe the things I saw after eating those bad boys! I saw literal Pidge pigeons flying around my head! Let me repeat- pigeons with Pidge’s head were flying around my head sprouting weird emoticons out of its mouth!”  


Hunk held his belly as he shook with laughter, “Hahah, no way! Haha, out of all the things you could eat- Hahaha- you two actually managed to find some drug berries! Hahaha!”  


“Not on purpose!” Lance argued, though he was smirking and looking as if he was holding back his own laughter. “We were hungry and how was I supposed to know the berries would make me hear Keith’s mullet talking crap about me and cause Keith to beat up a poor tree for calling him short?”  


Hunk was flat on his back, holding back tears as he laughed even harder. “Oh man, hahaha, you two should have brought some back! Hahaha!”  


Lance let out a fake gasp of horror. “And suffer the disapproval of space dad? For shame Hunk!”  


The lanky boy then chuckled, shaking his head, “But nope, trust me, even if it was an interesting experience, the aftermath wasn’t. As soon as the hallucinations wore off, both Keith and I were puking our guts out.” He pulled a wry face at the memory. “It was disgusting.”  


Hunk couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend’s misfortune, “Sounds like a bonding experience.”  


Lance snorted in amusement. “Oh yes, nothing says bonding like having to hold back Keith’s greasy mullet while he pukes poisoned berries all over my feet.”  


From his nest of blankets on the floor, Hunk glanced up to witness a fond smile cross Lance’s face as he spoke. For the first time in a while, Hunk’s mind drifted back to the whispered conversation and the sudden closeness Lance and Keith had shared in the common room.  


“Well, it must have worked.” Hunk pointed out. “You two don’t seem to hate each other anymore.”  


“Oh of course I hate him!” Lance lazily droned, wriggling around in his bed. “I feel burning loathing every time I see that mullet and that horrible red, jacket stolen from a 80’s trash bin. My hatred is only natural- he is my archrival after all.”  


Hunk rolled his eyes at Lance’s dramatics. “Dude, I’m serious. You two seem…different. Closer, I guess.”  


There was a moment of a silence. Then Lance spoke again, his voice losing its usual humored edge.  


“Umm…yeah...I guess I’ll admit that when he’s not so being all broody and annoying, Keith is….kinda a great guy.” He sounded almost embarrassed to admit it.  


Hunk had to fight to hold back teasing grin at seeing how red Lance’s face was getting. “Should I be jealous?” He joked.  


“What? No!” Lance scoffed, looking flabbergasted at the mere thought. “You’re my main man! We’re practically leg buddies!”  


Hunk couldn’t hold back a loud laugh at that. “Leg buddies? Yep, I like that- that’s totally a thing now.”  


“Anyway, I totally still prefer being stranded in space with you- at least I wouldn’t have to explain every single joke to a guy who apparently has not watched television for years.”  


“Oh poor you.” Hunk said giggling which Lance soon joined him in. When the laughter died down, Hunk, feeling a sudden urge of warm affection fill his chest, blurted out, “I really missed you, you know.”  


The sudden confession seemed to stun Lance into a momentary silence. After a heartbeat or two, Lance glanced down at Hunk, his blue eyes shimmering with fondness. “I missed you too, buddy. I missed all of you guys.” He paused and spoke again in a hesitant, quiet voice. “There were….a couple of moments when I thought…I thought I might not see any of you ever again.”  


Hunk felt his throat sudden tighten. He had had those moments too- he was sure everyone had during their time away.  


“I’m glad you’re safe.” Hunk finally said when the lump his throat had lessened. “And I’m glad you at least had Keith with you.”  


“Don’t let Keith ever know I said this,” Lance told him, “But I’m happy he was with me too.  


The two friends fell silent for a bit after that, both lost in their own private thoughts. Neither had expected the atmosphere to suddenly become so heavy. When the silence grew to an awkward length, Hunk decided to dissolve it.  


“So…ummm…” Hunk tried to get the conversation back going, “besides eating poisonous berries and escape from mad Galra princes, what did you two do most of the time?”  


“Argue,” Lance immediately answered, “About literally everything. And then compete against each other to see who could find food quicker. ” Hunk could hear a smile in his voice. “But when we were tired of arguing and running around, we’d talk.”  


“About what?” Hunk asked, curiously.  


From the top of the bed, Lance shrugged his shoulders. “Stuff. Most of the time, it was about whether we’d ever find you guys again.” At this, Lance blinked warmly down at Hunk.  


Hunk felt his nose warm with embarrassment. He glanced away, grinning. “And the other times?”  


“Home.” Lance answered wistfully. Hunk felt his own heart ache for a tick at the word. “Keith always mentioned missing his bike and that shack in the desert- so weird sometimes that guy. I talked about my family- my mom, dad, my annoying sisters, everyone. Believe it or not, but I think Keith actually likes hearing me rambling about my crazy family.”  


“Does Keith have any crazy family stories too?” Hunk asked, honestly curious.  


The Yellow Paladin knew instantly he had made a mistake when he saw the smile fall from Lance’s face. Lance awkwardly shifted his blue gaze away, staring at his bedsheets silently, saying nothing at all but speaking volumes all the same. Hunk’s face fell as the implications came together- Keith _**had**_ no crazy family to talk about.  


“Oh.” Hunk quietly said, stomach dropping at the realization. “I’m sorry.” He added, not knowing what else to say.  


Lance slowly nodded, still avoiding Hunk’s stare. “Yeah…me too.”  


Another heavy, now even more awkward, silence fell.  


As the lull in conversation stretched on, Hunk thought about what all knew about Keith and realized that besides Keith’s reputation at the Garrison and that fact that he and Shiro had known each other for a while, Hunk really did not know a lot much about the Red Paladin. It wasn’t much of a surprise since Keith was generally a quiet and private person. The only person Hunk had ever seen Keith really open up to was Shiro. Perhaps that’s why Hunk felt so surprised to hear Lance reveal knowing such an intimate detail of Keith’s life.  


_The two of them **had** grown closer._ Hunk realized thoughtfully, blinking up at Lance, who was now lying on his back on the bed and gazing at the ceiling.  


As if sensing Hunk’s pondering gaze on him, Lance shifted his head to look back down at Hunk. There was a conflicting expression on the Blue Paladin’s tan face. After a tick or two, Lance spoke up. “Hey Hunk, can I ask you a question?”  


_You just did_ , Hunk wanted to joke back at him, but the intensity in Lance’s blue eyes made him realized that Lance was very serious at the moment. “Sure, shoot.”  


“What do you think of Keith?”  


Hunk blinked in confusion, definitely not expecting to be asked something like that. “You mean if I like him? I mean he’s definitely good-looking but you know I don’t really go for….”  


“No! No!” Lance quickly cut Hunk off, blushing. “I mean as a person in general!”  


Hunk tilted his head to the side, staring at Lance curiously as he thought over the question.  


“Keith…is okay?” Hunk finally said. “I mean he’s cool and awesome in like everything- fighting, piloting, being a badass in general…”  


“ _Traitor._ ” Lance murmured under his breath.  


“But,” the Yellow Paladin continued, “I don’t really know him that well. He’s a nice guy whenever I get a chance to talk with him and I’d definitely pick him to be with me on any mission, but….I don’t know, a part of me is kind of intimidated by him?”  


“…Are you scared of him?” Lance asked unexpectedly.  


Hunk blinked in surprise. “No…well…not anymore. Though I will admit that the night we slept over at his scary shack in the middle of the desert, I couldn’t sleep because I was half expecting Keith to secretly be a crazy serial killer.” At seeing the odd stare Lance was shooting him, he hastily defended himself, “Hey, come on! The guys slept with a knife, build home-made bombs, and lived alone in the desert, what did you expect me to think?!”  


He heard Lance heave a heavy sigh and mutter quietly almost to himself, “Yeah…yeah…he does give off that vibe, doesn’t he?” He sounded very frustrated for some reason.  


“I mean I don’t think that anymore!” Hunk quickly added, trying to brighten Lance’s suddenly damp mood. “I think Keith’s a good guy- just a bit weird at times.”  


When Lance remained silent, Hunk felt a stab of concern rush through him. “You okay?” he asked in a worried tone.  


He was relieved when Lance turned to him with a smile back on his face. “Yep, just feeling a bit tired.” The scruffy-headed boy let out a loud yawn for emphasis, his back arching like a cat. “Think I’m going to hit the sack.”  


Hunk felt his gut get a twinge of discomfort at the sudden halt to the sleepover. He tried to grin reassuringly at his friend. “Yeah, me too. It is late after all.”  


He quietly watched Lance shuffle under his cover. Hunk lay down in his own nest of blankets and settled his large head into one of the pillows Lance had let him borrow. There was a clap from Lance and the lights in the room instantly dimmed to a semi-darkness.  


“Good night, Lance,” Hunk called out, pulling the covers to his chin.  


“Good night Hunk.” Lance returned sleepily.  


There was a tick of silence. Then…  


“Hey Hunk,”  


Hunk peeked from under his blanket to see the faintest glow of blue peering at him from the darkness.  


“Yeah?”  


A tick passed.  


“There’s something…” Lance began but his voice suddenly faltered.  


Another tick passed by in the still silence. Hunk heard only his own heart beat nervously in the darkness.  


“…You know what, nevermind. Sorry, it’s nothing.” Lance rolled around to face the bedroom wall, his back to Hunk, murmuring another quiet “good night”.  


Hunk stared at his friend’s backside for a few ticks, feeling a wave of sudden dejection flow over him for some reason. He then rolled around to snuggle his head deep into the pillow, taking a small amount of comfort in its softness. As an unsettling sleep finally overtook him, Hunk whispered one last thing into the quiet night.  


“Good night Lance.”


	3. ...The Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which combat training reveals some new surprises for the paladins...

The next morning brought a fresh start for Hunk. All the awkward and unsettling feelings he had felt before falling asleep the night before had dissolved and replaced with the contentment of finally waking up in a familiar place. He peeked up at Lance in the bed and saw his buddy still sleeping; a caramel cheek was mushed against the pillow and a strand of drool dripped from his softly snoring mouth. His normally well-groomed tawny hair was tousled and all over the place.

The Yellow Paladin smiled into his pillow at the sight. It was good to be home again.

Being the wonderful friend that Hunk was, he allowed Lance a few more minutes of sleep. Then his stomach started to send him warning growls for food so Hunk roughly threw a pillow at Lance’s face. The noble Blue Paladin woke up with an undignified shriek, falling off the bed and onto his face.

Lance let out a string of curses in Spanish while Hunk just laughed like any good buddy would.

Eventually, the two dressed themselves and started to make their way to the dining hall, chatting and goofing off just like old times.

“I really hope Coran at least uses one of your recipes for breakfast,” Lance told this larger friend, grinning. “Love the guy, but man out of all the things I missed, his cooking was not one of them!”

Hunk’s chest swelled up with pride at the mention of one of his recipes. “Don’t worry, by tomorrow I’ll be back in the kitchen cooking again.”

“Good, if you didn’t, I might have considered going back to eating poisoned berries again.”

Hunk playfully shoved Lance with his shoulder. “Oh I’m sure Coran’s food goo will make you see things too if you eat enough of it.”

Lance laughed and tried to shove the hunkier boy back with no results. Hunk felt a small sense of relief that whatever sullen mood Lance had fallen in the night before was long gone. His best friend seemed to be his normal joking and confident self once more.

The two friends entered the dining hall to see that Shiro and Pidge were both already in their usual seats at the long table, filling their plates with Coran’s signature green goo.  Hunk noted that Allura, Coran, and Keith were still absent.

Shiro looked up at the two younger paladins entered, a warm smile on his face. “Good morning, you two. Sleep well?”

“You bet!” Lance said with great cheer, seating himself. He glanced around, smile fading just a bit, and asked casually, “So where’s Mullet Man at?”

“Probably still sleeping.” Shiro answered, giving Lance a look. Hunk noticed Shiro’s smile grow a bit as if he were happy to see Lance show some concern for Keith’s whereabouts. “I’m sure he’ll be up soon. Everyone deserves a little time to sleep in after all we’ve been through.”

“Got that right!” Hunk agreed as he settled into his seat and immediately started to fill his plate. “You know it’s so nice to go to sleep and not have to worry about something coming to ambush you or, I guess, eat you.”

“Can’t really argue with you there.” Pidge said, stretching her tiny arms out.  “I actually got a full night of sleep for once.”

“Maybe you’d get that more often if you didn’t stay up all the time to upgrade your equipment.” Shiro pointed out teasingly.

“Oh shut up, Space Dad.”

“…..Why is everyone calling me that?” Shiro sighed with great feeling.

 Hunk, Pidge, and Lance snickered into their plates, not bothering to answer. Then the sound of a mechanical door swishing open made them all look up. It was Keith.

Hunk saw Lance instantly stand a littler straighter in his seat. Keith didn’t look at refreshed as the rest of them. In fact, Hunk realized with a twinge of concern, Keith didn’t look like he had slept well at all. His raven hair was ruffled and strands were sticking out all over the place and there was the hint of dark bags under his eyes.

Perhaps Lance and I should have invited Keith to our sleepover, Hunk privately thought.

“Well, look what the lion dragged in.” Lance announce loudly in a snarky tone, his blue gaze following Keith as he made his way down the steps into the room.

Keith shot his teammate a tired glare. “Oh shut it. It’s still too early to listen to your annoying voice.”

At the start of what they all knew would be an argument, Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge all shared a suffering glance that clearly read, “Well, it was good while it lasted.”

However, to their surprise, Lance made no rude comeback and Keith actually took the empty seat next to Lance with no cutting remarks. The paladins all began to start eating their less than appetizing breakfast. Hunk noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Lance and Keith had paused in eating and had their heads leaned in closer to each other, whispering quietly. He saw Keith shake his head at something Lance’s had said and then saw Lance visibly sigh in relief. The two then resumed eating as if nothing had happened, their gazes fixated on their plates.

Hunk blinked. Well, that happened.  He saw that Shiro and Pidge were looking over him with raised eyebrows. Hunk merely shrugged his shoulders just as perplexed as they were at Lance and Keith’s odd behavior.

Shiro cleared his throat and asked, “So did you sleep alright Keith?”

Keith jerked his head up in surprise, blinking owlishly at their leader. “Umm, yeah, I guess. Just had a bit of trouble getting used to not sleeping in Red’s cockpit.”

Hunk could understand that. There was many nights when he had been gone where he spent the nights in the Yellow Lion’s cockpit with the sound of Yellow’s purrs the only comfort to lull him to sleep.

“Maybe you should just camp out in Lance’s room?” Pidge suggested, grinning evilly like the imp she was, “Sure you two did that a lot.”

Lance instantly began to violently choke on his mouthful of goo.

“Pidge!” Shiro chided, shooting the youngest Paladin a stern glare while both Hunk and Keith quickly pounded Lance’s back as he continued to splutter and choke.

“What? It’s just a suggestion! Not like Hunk doesn’t sleepover sometimes! Trying to be helpful here!”

“ACK! ACK!”

“Oh stop being a drama queen, Lance!”

“Pidge, he’s really choking! Look his face is turning blue!”

The doors of the dining rooms swished opened and out strolled the radiant-looking Princess Allura, four mice on her shoulders, and her advisor Coran following dully behind her.

“Good morning, Paladins!” Allura greeted her beloved warriors, arms spread out and beaming widely. She did not seem to notice the chaotic scene that was unfolding before her. “Hope you are all refreshed and ready because I…”

She was interrupted from her lovely morning speech by  Shiro let out a cry of “LANCE!” and standing up from his chair so violently that the chair was sent toppling across the room. With inhuman speed, Shiro sped over where Lance was choking, pushed Hunk and Keith out of the way, wrapped his arms around a choking Lance’s waist and _squeezed._

With a splutter and a gasp, a glop of green goo was send flying from Lance’s mouth and landed straight on top of Allura’s royal foot.

A shudder rippled through the princess’s body as she unleashed a very unroyal shriek of disgust that made Pidge laugh out loud. She laughed even harder, pounding the table with her tiny fist, when the green mouse started to eat the goo which caused the Princess to shriek even louder.

Lance, gasping for air, slouched the front half of his body on the table. After a moment of heavy breathing, he weakly raised a hand to give Shiro a thumbs up.

 “Thanks Space Dad.”

Hunk and, even Keith, joined Pidge in laughing as Shiro groaned and slapped a hand over his face in exasperation.

Conan watched the entire scene with amusement twinkling in his eyes.

“Well, looks like we’re off to an interesting start to the training day, don’t you think, Your Highness?”

Allura made no reply. She was too busy trying to shake off the green goo from heel, pretty face scrunched up in disgust.

Conan chuckled.

\----

Once everyone had recovered from the breakfast fiasco,  Princess Allura and Coran had them suit up in their Paladin armor and meet in the training area.

“I thought you said today we’d celebrate some more?”  Hunk pointed out, remembering her parting words from the night before.

“We are!” Prince Allura answered. She had regained her composure from her mild freak out earlier. “What better way to celebrate reuniting than finding out how much each and every single one of you have improved during your time away?”

“I don’t know- relaxing, enjoying a few more hours of peace before being thrown back into danger’s path again?” Hunk suggested. The glare Allura sent him made him immediately snap his mouth back shut.

“The princess is right!” Coran said brightly, moving around the assembled paladins. “From what I hear, you’ve all faced a lot of peril on your adventures. Experience in the open field is the best way of sharpening a warrior’s skills and instincts. In order to improve even more, the Princess and I need to see how far along all of you are.”

None of the paladins could really argue with Coran’s logic. Hunk himself knew that his fighting skills had definitely improved during his time defending himself against the dangers of space. And he was positive that he wasn’t alone- the Yellow Paladin could see that all of his friends had grown even more fit, more muscled, and there was a roughness to all their physique that hadn’t quite been there before. The only one who hadn’t changed at all was Shiro, but that was no surprise. Their leader had already gone through hell long ago.

Right now Shiro looked content, even excited. He swept his calm, encouraging gaze over the younger paladins.

“Let’s give it a go. I’m sure we’ll all like to see how we’ve all become better paladins.”

Shiro’s support was all the rest of them needed to get pumped up.

“Alright, let’s get started!”

“Try to keep up guys!”

“Don’t be jealous by how much better I am than you now, Keith.”

“So you admit that I was better before, then?”

“In your dreams, mullet head!”

Within the next few minutes, the training deck had been set up for the paladins to perform the defense team exercise. The princess and her advisor were in their stations at the viewing deck while the paladins were on the ground below, in the very center of the area, shields up.  Hunk listened as Allura’s voice echoed through all of their comm links in their helmets.

“I’m sure you are all familiar with this exercise. In a few ticks, I will unleash the laser bots to attack- your duty is to protect on another for as long as you can.” The Atlean princess explained. “You have been apart for a while- it’s good to try and get you back in the mindset of working as a team. Do you understand?”

“We got it.” Shiro answered for the team. Hunk bend his knees and got into a defensive stance, holding up his shield. He instinctively gravitated towards Pidge who he knew his larger frame would shield. From the corner of his vision, he saw Lance and Keith on either side of him ready themselves as well.

“Paladins, get ready!” Conan shouted, his voice echoing in the vast chamber. A tick passed. “And here we go!”

Small side doors along the wall whished open and immediately dozens of circular, mechanical robots came floating out, lasers blazing. Within moments the paladins were surrounded by all sides by the robot orbs, bombarded by shocking blue lasers.

Hunk remembered how horribly they had all done the first time they had performed this exercise. Even afterwards, none of them ever really lasted too long. But this time was different. Hunk was more confident in his movements and judgement now than he had been in the past and was quick to catch any laser pointed with his shield before they could hit him, Pidge, or Lance- the two paladins he was near enough to actually shield. Even after four…five…eight minutes had passed and everyone was still going at it.

Unforunately, all good things come to an end. Hunk felt the light shock as a laser hit him in the shoulder and then the familiar stomach-turning whoosh that came from falling as the floor opened up below him. He was transported straight into the viewing deck, dropping like a sack of potatoes as the floor spit him back up.

Coran helped Hunk up with a cheerful smile. “Well done in beating your previous timings!”

“Still first to go though.” Hunk muttered with a sigh. Besides the free-falling exercise, Hunk disliked the defense, laser exercise the most. The Yellow Paladin was great at shielding his teammates against the constantly whirling lasers, but unfortunately his larger, taller body made him too much of a target for the others to properly protect. Hunk was almost always the first one to be shot.

The ginger-haired Altain clamped a hand on Hunk’s back and encouraging said, “Don’t worry too much- every warrior has his or her strengths and weaknesses. You’ve improved and that should count as a small victory.”

“But do strive to get better.” Allura cut in. the princess’s blue and pink eyes were focused on the viewing window, watching the exercise with furious concentration. “You all have a lot of training to catch up since you’ve been separated. It is vital we all be battle ready.”

Hunk and Coran shared a meaningful glance- Allura was back into her all-powerful sergeant mode. That meant that this day would only end with bruises and aching bodies.

It wasn’t but a couple of ticks later did Pidge join them.  Hunk, seated against the wall, watched Pidge remove her helmet and wipe the sweat from her brow. He held up a large hand, grinning. “Nice job Pidge!”

Pidge grinning sheepishly and returned the high-five. “Not too bad yourself Hunk. Thanks for guarding my back.”

“Anytime.” Hunk answered with a smile, “Who do you think is up next?”

“Lance or Keith.” Pidge answered immediately, sliding down to join her large teammate against the wall. “You know Shiro is always the last one standing whenever we do this.”

Hunk was about to reply when a familiar whooshing noise warned them of their next fallen teammate’s arrival. To both paladins’ surprise it was Shiro who was on the ground, blinking and looking a bit dazed.

“No way!” Hunk gasped. “You always win this!”

“Technically there is no winner.” Coran pointed out in bright tones, not even turning around from looking through the viewing window. “The exercise is to protect one another so really you all lost already!”

Shiro righted himself up and grinned over at his two teammates. “Well, not this time. Believe it or not, Lance and Keith are doing quite well.”

Pidge already running towards the viewing window, shouting, “This I gotta see!”

Hunk was right behind her. The dark-skinned paladin slipped in between Shiro and Pidge and pressed his face close to the viewing window. Together, along with Coran and Allura, they watched in rapt fascination as Keith and Lance continued with the exercise alone.

 They pressed close to one another, almost completely back to back. Never taking an eye off of the robots whirling around them, the red and blue paladin slowly moved in a rotation so that every side was covered. All while they shield each other, Hunk and the rest of the group on the deck could hear Lance and Keith ribbing each other on with playful taunts.

How are you holding up, mullet head?” Lance called out, raising his shoulder to block a laser aimed at Keith’s head.

“Better than you. You were slow a second ago. I could feel that laser almost burn my hair!” Keith snapped, blocking a laser coming at Lance’s leg.

“It was on purpose. You needed a haircut.”

“The next one that comes at your mouth I’m letting pass. It’d be an improvement!”

“Ouch, that one actually hurt a bit.”

“So will this laser so keep moving!”

“Incredible.” Allura breathed. Hunk glanced over at the white-haired princess and saw her staring down at Lance and Keith with wide eyes. A grin was slowly spreading on her face. “They’re actually working together.”

“I know, it’s quite a sight to see!” Coran commented, twirling his mustache with happy contentment. “The two of them must have bonded greatly during their time together- true brothers-in-arms!”

“It’s…definitely surprising.” Shiro added, sounding as if he didn’t know whether to be pleased or shocked by how well the two former rivals working along side one another.

“We must test this.” Allura suddenly said, straightening herself up. There was a dominating expression upon her face that Hunk recognized and instantly felt a tremor of fear go through him. The last time she had that look, she had aimed all the castle guns on them to help them form Voltron. He, Pidge, Shiro, and Coran all shared a look, the same thought bouncing in their minds…

Keith and Lance were in trouble.

Allura pressed a button on the control screen and instantly the robot drones halted their shoot and slowed down to a mere hover. Lance and Keith lowered their shields and glanced around in confusion.

“Did we win?” Lance called out.

“Coran said there are no winners.” Pidge answered in him through the helmet. “We’re all losers.”

“…Harsh.”

The princess’s voice entered their comm links. “Keith, Lance, you two are doing a fabulous job!”

Even from his spot in the observation deck, Hunk could see Lance puff out his chest at the Princess’s praise. He also saw Keith roll his eyes.

“You two are doing so well,” Allura continued, “that we’re testing you at the next level!”

The expressions on both Keith and Lance’s faces instantly shifted into one of shock and then into horror with realization at what was about to happen.

Up on the viewing deck, Shiro, a look of panic slowly creeping up his usually composed face, leaned close to Allura and tried to interfere. “Allura are you sure this is a good…”

“I’m starting the sequence right now. Prepare yourself paladins!” Allura called out, completely ignoring Shiro, who’s expression had gone into full-blown panic mode. Without further ado, the princess tapped the holoscreen and activated the new exercise.

Side doors opened on either side of the area and out came not just one, but six Gladiators rushed out. Hunk felt his gut twist and turn with anxiety. This would not end very well. One Gladiator was bad enough, but six?

“Umm, Princess, I know you wanna see how badass Keith and Lance are now, but can we just like at least start at just two Gladiators?” Hunk asked, his hands up in a begging fashion.

“Relax,” Allura soothed, “all of them are level one. Based on today’s performance, Keith and Lance should be fine. I have complete faith in their abilities.”

A tick passed.

“Anyone one wanna bet who gets knocked off their butt first?” Pidge piped up.

“WE CAN HEAR YOU PIDGE!” Keith snapped from the comm link.

“Oh, cool it, Keith, I was betting on Lance anyway.”

“HEY!”

“Concentrate, you two!” Shiro ordered. “The Gladiators are coming at you.”

Hunk focused his attention back to the window and saw that it was true, the Gladiators had both paladins surrounded and their electric javelins were out and sparking menacingly. A change instantly fell over the two paladins- their bodies grew tense and neither moved a muscle. Through the shared links through the helmets, Hunk could hear Lance’s breath start to pick up in an erratic manner.

Hunk saw Shiro’s eyes widen at the sound. The Black Paladin’s opened his mouth, probably to demand that Allura call the whole thing off, but was stopped by Keith speaking through the comm link.

“Relax,” Keith seemed to be speaking directly to Lance, his voice lowered to a calming murmur. “It’s just like before. You got this, Lance.”

 _Before?_ Hunk blinked. Did they mean back on Prince Lotor’s ship?

Hunk heard Lance take a deep breath. “Right.” his voice went back to its usual cockiness. “Just try and keep up with me!”

“Same to you.” Keith snapped back, though Hunk could hear a smirk in his voice.

In that instant, the Gladiators charged forward, javelins raised to attack the two paladins. Hunk threw his hands over his face, letting out a whimper of fear. Both Shiro and Pidge tensed up nervously on either side of him as they watched, waiting for Lance and Keith to make their move.

For a tick, the two paladins only stared with wide eyes at the approaching Gladiators. Then, as one, Keith and Lance drew close together, backs against each other, and, activated bayards in hand, began to furiously attack.

Hunk’s jaw dropped in disbelief. Shiro sucked in a sharp breath while Pidge stared, her green eyes wide behind her glasses. She muttered a single, “No…way…”

None of them could believe it…Keith and Lance actually seemed to be kicking Gladiator ass.

The red and blue paladins were a force of their own. Back to back they remained, but never still, always twisting and weaving around one another. Attacking and ducking. Whirling and switching sides- a blur of red and blue that was forever in motion, shooting and slashing at anything that drew near.

_Slash, shoot, switch….slash, shoot, switch…slash, shoot, switch…._

There was no longer any banter- no words at all- exchanged between the two, but there wasn’t any need. Keith and Lance instinctively seemed to know what other was about to do and attacked or defended accordingly.

_Slash, shoot, switch….slash, shoot, switch…slash, shoot, switch…._

A gladiator fell, its lights dimming in defeated, both a smoking gun wound to the head and a jagged sword wound in the chest.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Pidge muttered, unable to keep the awe out of her voice. “But those two are actually kind of awesome right now.” She then shot Hunk a glare and added, “Don’t you dare tell Lance I ever said that.”

Hunk teasingly held his hands up in surrender, smiling. “I didn’t hear anything.”

A second gladiator fell, its limbs twitching.

Coran’s mustache was quivering with pride. “Outstanding! They’re really going at it!”

Allura was actually beaming, looking satisfied for once with how training was going. “This is excellent! If I had known I’d see such improvement, I would have dropped you all off at an isolated planet in the very beginning!”

Hunk felt the blood drain from his face. He and Pidge shared a horrified glance especially after Coran cheerfully replied, “Worry not, dear princess! I’ll add that to the training regimen for future paladins straight away!”

Only Shiro still looked uncomfortable at how well the exercise was going. His dark gaze was fixed on the two younger paladins as they continued to fend themselves against the remaining Gladiator; his mouth set in a deep frown.

 Hunk moved a bit closer to their leader. “They seem to doing okay, huh?” He remarked in a light tone, trying to wipe away the unnerving expression on the Black Paladin’s face.

“It seems so.” Shiro admitted quietly, his shoulders slouching a bit. He still looked unsettled, his eyes flickering with an emotion Hunk couldn’t quite pin down- Concern? Guilt? Regret? “I’m just a bit concerned on what they had to go through to get that good.”

The implications on what Shiro meant caused a wave of nausea to wash over Hunk for a moment. Keith’s words from before returned to his mind and made Hunk wonder in a fretful manner. He made a note to ask Lance later to spill more details about what exactly went on during their escape from Prince Lotor’s ship.

Hunk’s attention was pulled back to the fight by Pidge tugging at his sleeve. “Look, they’re down to three!” The Green Paladin pointed out in excitement.

Hunk looked back down at the fight and saw that it was true- only three Gladiators remained. Keith and Lance were still going at it, though both were now panting, sweat dripping down from under their helmets. Hunk could only really see Lance’s face from his angle, but he could tell that Lance, as exhausted as he looked, was still full of adrenaline and grinning, looking ready to finish the sequence.

“You can do it Lance!” Hunk yelled encouragingly through the comm link. “You too Keith.”

He saw Lance glance up towards the observation window and give a quick thumbs up. Lance then looked back at Keith, who’s back was to the window. Hunk saw Keith turn his head slightly towards Lance.

And then grin on Lance’s face suddenly dropped. For the first time since the beginning of the fight, Hunk saw panic flickering across Lance’s tan face.

Confusion filled Hunk. What was Lance looking at? “Lance, are you o…” Hunk began but didn’t have time to finish before Shiro let out a warning shout.

“Watch it Lance!” 

Shiro’s commanding tone snapped Lance back to focus. The Blue Paladin whirled around just in time for one of the Gladiators to thrust the blunt end of the electric javelin straight into Lance’s gut. With a pained grunt, lanky paladin was sent flying to Keith, knocking both of them to the ground. Both were down and out.

With that the training sequence ended.

The rest of the paladins, with Allura and Coran in tow, rushed down to the training area. By the time they had gotten to the Red and Blue paladins, both were still on the ground and groaning, but were at least sitting up.

Coran was the first to greet them, arms spread out and beaming proudly. “That was a spectacular show! A little bit anticlimax at the end, but quite the performance nevertheless!”

Lance rubbed his aching gut, groaning, “Ugh…thanks Coran.”

Allura was beaming as she stepped up besides Coran and added, “Coran is correct. I’m quite impressed by you two’s teamwork today. I expect to see a lot more of it in future exercises.”

While Pidge and Shiro walked over to Keith, Hunk went over to offer a hand to help Lance up. “They’re right, you two were something else.”

Lance allowed himself to be pulled up, grinning. “Pfft, what do you expect? We’re rivals- of course we’re going to fight well together.”

Suddenly there was a gasp from both Shiro and Pidge, the former crying out, “What happened to your face, Keith?!”

Hunk whirled around to see Shiro and Pidge step away from Keith who was now on his feet and standing awkwardly in silence, an expression of panic on his face. Hunk’s brown eyes fixed themselves upon the pale boy’s face and his eyes grew wide at what he saw.

Upon Keith’s face, right along his jawline to the bottom of his ear, was a large smudge of dark purple.

In a flash, before anyone could say anything else, Lance was suddenly at Keith’s side, an arm thrown casually over the Red Paladin’s armored shoulder. He playfully poked the purple smudge while Keith just stood blinking in shock and confusion at what the hell his teammate was doing.

“Man that’s some bruise you got there Keith!” Lance exclaimed in a loud voice. He looked back at Hunk and the rest of them, grinning in an almost sheepish manner. “Sorry, my bad! Guess I accidentally elbowed this lughead in the face when I fell down!  Isn’t that right, Keith?”

Keith’s violet eyes flickered from a grinning Lance to the gathered audience and then back to Lance who’s large grin was so stretched out it looked painful.

“Um….yes?” 

Lance patted the top of Keith’s head with his free hand, cooing, “Well, then Keith, oh buddy, oh rival of mine, let me make it up to you by getting you some ice for that bruise!”

Ignoring the perplexed stares everyone was shooting the two; Lance started to quickly lead Keith away towards the exit, his arm still gripped tightly around the shorter boy’s shoulders so it was almost as if he were dragging him along. Keith didn’t resist at all- he allowed himself to be led off, looking almost like a deer in the headlights.

“Do…do you two need any help?” Shiro called out, the first to find his voice and it sounded very concerned at the moment. For good reason.

“Nope! Don’t wait for us!” Lance called over his shoulder, literally pushing Keith through the doorway. “Just continue bonding and whatnot! We’ll catch up!” With that, Lance bolted and the door to the training deck entrance swished shut.

An almost overbearing silence hung over chamber as the remaining paladins, princess, and advisor just stood blinking in confusion; trying to process they had just seen.

At last, Pidge said what they were all thinking.

“What the _quiznak_ just happened?!”


	4. ...The Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk hears the Blue Paladin and the Altean Princess having an unlikely conversation....

“Hey Keith, you have a little something on your face.”

The only answer Pidge received was a dark smoldering glare from the Red Paladin. The reaction only made Pidge’s shit-eating grin grow wider.

Hunk watched the exchange and tried to hide his mirthful grin behind the large pile of pink goo on his plate. After Lance and Keith had left in the middle of training, the rest of the session had been quite uneventful with the remain paladins mostly just sparring against the Gladiators. It was dinner now, and Lance and Keith had only just showed themselves a few minutes beforehand with Lance literally having to drag Keith through the doorway.

The moment they saw the Red Paladin’s face, it was obvious why Keith was struggling so hard to escape Lance’s grip.

There were two ridiculously large band-aid patches plastered on Keith’s face- one along the lower jaw where the bruise from earlier was. And another was right in the middle of Keith’s forehead.

Hunk had pointed at the forehead one with his spoon, asking, “Where’d that one come from?”

Keith scowled and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes towards Lance. “This idiot pushed me into a wall while he was _helping_.”

Lance sputtered in indignation at such an accusation. “I did no such thing! What are- “

 Keith not so subtly elbowed Lance right in the ribs.

“ _Oomph!_ Ow- I mean…yeah, I did that…thing. Whatever. Sorry.”

When the two took their usual seats, Hunk, who was sitting on Lance’s other side, had heard Lance whisper heatedly to Keith, “Why do you always have to make me look like the clumsy one?”

“Because it’s more believable!” Keith hissed back.

“Ungrateful jerk.” Lance mumbled with an eye roll before turned to fill his plate.

Hunk resumed eating his own meal, pushing their whispered conversation aside. They had probably had one of their usual arguments while Lance had been tending to Keith’s bruises.

Pidge started her teasing a few minutes into the dinner. Keith made no comebacks to any of her good-natured ribbing, but did shoot out a lot of glares and was extra violent in stabbing his spoon into his plate of goo. Everyone tried to hide their own grins, even Shiro seemed to be fighting to keep up his own composed expression. Keith just looked too funny with the over-sized bandages covering his face.

Finally, Shiro took pity on the Red Paladin and steered the focus onto Allura, asking her about how the Castle has been holding up since they’d been gone. Allura and Coran enthusiastically launched into an explanation on how in the last battle with Zarkon, the ship had sustained some damages- enough for Allura and Coran to be forced to do a supply run for parts. Since the planet they had landed on was technically still Galran territory, the mission had to be done under secrecy with both Coran and Allura having to shapeshift into local residents.

The tale was very thrilling and Hunk, as well as everyone else, listened in with great interest. Though, at the point in the story when Allura mentioned having to shapeshift, Hunk noticed that Lance seemed to suddenly light up, eyes wide and a large, toothy grin spreading across his face.

_Should I be worried about this?_ Hunk privately wondered. He recognized that look. It was the same look Lance had when he had suggested they all go sneak out of the Garrison for a night on the town, the same look when Lance first ran head-first into the metal muzzle of a giant, blue alien warship with no caution whatsoever. It was the expression of someone who suddenly had a dumb idea and had the recklessness to actually go through with it.

Yes, Hunk knew he should be very worried.

Which is why, when everyone started to depart back to their rooms or enjoy their own private time, and Hunk noticed Lance, after whispering something to Keith, get up to follow after Princess Allura, Hunk immediately went after them.

A part of Hunk felt bad for intruding on Lance’s privacy, but if he was planning on cornering Allura to pull out a bunch of new pick-up lines, Hunk was going to put his foot down. Hunk had become a lot less tolerate of Lance’s flirting exploits after they had nearly gotten the Blue Lion stolen. It was not one of Hunk’s favorite memories.

Hunk paused in his slinking around when Lance stopped by the entrance of the control room. The Blue Paladin poked a head through the opened archway for a tick and then walk in.

Hunk waited a moment or two longer and then quietly shambled to where Lance had been standing only a tick before. The large teen kept his body pressed against the wall and only allowed his head to visibly peek inside. He saw Lance walking to where Princess Allura was standing, silently tapping her fingers upon several hologram screens, going through series of data.

Lance paused a few feet away from Altean royal and politely cleared his throat to announce his presence. “Evening Princess!” Lance greeted cheerfully.

The sorrel-skinned princess immediately halted in her activity and turned around to face the Blue Paladin. The holo-screen evaporated under her delicate fingertips.

“Good evening to you as well, Lance.” Allura politely replied, though her tone and facial expression betrayed her surprise as seeing Lance seek her out. She recovered within a tick and offered Lance a friendly, if not a bit guarded, smile. “Forgive me; I was merely going some systems checks on the Castle before I retire for the cycle. Is there something you need?”

Lance took a step forward, his smile growing wider and his blue eyes sparkling. “Actually there is.”

Hunk held back a groan, hoping Lance wasn’t going to embarrass himself by trying to seduce the princess. Hunk really didn’t want to have to drag his best friend away from Allura’s wrath.

 The white-haired princess seemed to be having similar thoughts. Allura’s smile faltered at Lance’s words and her crystal-blue eyes narrowed in warning. “Lance, if you are here to try out one of Earth’s odd courting rituals, I will personally throw you out of this room.”

Lance hastily took a step backwards and held his hands up in a pacifying gesture, his grin falling as a look of panic crossed his face. “No! Of course! I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Alteans!”

Allura’s eyebrows rose. “Oh.” She blinked and the smile that spread across her lovely face instantly became much more welcoming. “I’m surprised- you’ve never shown much interest in Altean culture before. But I’ll be happy to answer anything you’d like.”

Sensing that he was out of danger, Lance relaxed and the smile on his face returned. “Okay, well my first question is…umm…” Despite his previous enthusiasm, Hunk noticed that Lance now looked a bit nervous. “umm…how do you Alteans learn how to shapeshift?”

**_What?_** Hunk mentally yelled, blinking in confusion and wondering if he’d heard Lance right. Why on earth would Lance want to know anything about shapeshifting?

Princess Allura looked stunned as well by the question. “How we learn…how to shapeshift?” she slowly repeated.

Lance looked downright embarrassed at this point, the tips of his ears reddening. “Umm…yeah?”

Allura blinked. “Are…are you trying to learn yourself? Do humans possess such abilities as well?”

Lance’s blue eyes grew wide. “What? No! I mean, it’d be totally cool if we could, but yeah, we definitely can’t.” The lanky teen rubbed the back of his neck as he mulled over his words. “I guess what I mean to ask if how do you train yourself to shapeshift? Can all Alteans shapeshift?  Is it difficult for you to stay as one alien for a long time? Do you ever get stuck as something and can’t change back? Stuff like that.”

When Lance’s rambling came to an end, Allura’s surprised expression grew quite thoughtful.  “I see. Any reason in particular this topic holds your interest?”

Lance let out a nervous chuckle and shrugged his shoulders. “Oh curiosity for curiosity’s sake and all that jazz.”

“An interesting earth expression.” Allura noted, gazing at Lance through half-closed eyes. She seemed to study Lance for a tick more before speaking once again. “To answer your questions, yes- all Alteans do possess the ability to use minor shape-shifting. However not all could- it’s a skill that takes a lot of time and dedication to master and for many citizens it is not needed. As royalty, I was trained at a very early age since it is a vital skill needed for the royal duties of exploration and diplomacy.”

Lance nodded to show that he was listening. “Cool, cool, that makes sense. So can you stay as a different alien for a long time with switching back?”

“No,” Allura answered, “For some time yes, but not for too long. Even with all the practice and training a shifter can go through, a body always yearns to return to its original before too long. It’s not natural otherwise.” Seeing that Lance still looked a bit puzzled, Allura tried a different tactic.  “How can I explain it? Imagine Lance if you had to hold your arms straight up in the air.”

“Like this?” Lance’s arms shot up, stretching towards the ceiling.

“Yes, exactly like that. Now are you having any difficulties at the moment?”

Lance grinned cheekily. “Nope, I can do this all day Princess.”

Allura hummed and gave the paladin a patient smile. “I have no doubt you could, Lance. But imagine if you had to hold your arms up like that for several days with no moment of pause? Would you not start to feel the tiniest bit of discomfort? Would your arms not start to weigh you down seeking to return to their natural positions?”

Lance lowered his arms, wincing. “I see your point.” He went silent a moment. Hunk saw him chew the bottom of his lips pensively. Then he spoke, “Okay, then what if you accidentally get stuck as something else can’t change back to normal when you want to?”

Allura tapped her chin in thought, “Hhhmmm, that is an interesting question.” The snow-haired princess suddenly let out an unexpected giggle. “Oh there was a time when me and my cousin Romelle were training together and both had a contest to see who could shift into the oddest alien- I won, naturally and Romelle winded up being stuck with giant Lupinese ears for the rest of the day, hehehe.”

Lance let out a snort of laughter, “Try winning any contest against eight cousins, there’s nothing but chaos!”

“Eight? I can only imagine! Having two was trouble enough!”

The princess and her paladin shared a laugh. Hunk watched them fondly, glad that Allura and Lance seemed to have finally found a similarity to bond over- their immense love for their long gone families.

“So,” Lance finally said as he finished chuckling, “after your victory in the eternal wars of cousin rivalry, how was Romelle able to get rid of those pesky Lup-whatever ears?”

“Oh, Coran had her mediate alone for an hour.” Allura answered, at last reigning in her tinkling giggles. “A big part of mastering shapeshifting is to keep a focused mind on what you’re trying to shift to. A distracted or distressed mind makes holding a form very difficult. But it can work the opposite way as well. If you hold a form long enough like my cousin did and suddenly feel panicked, your body will cling to the new form as a defense mechanism. It could take some time to let your mind and body know that it is safe to shift back into its original self. Again, calming mediation and a focused mind are usually the best ways to deal with any shapeshifting dilemma.”

Hunk saw Lance slowly nodded his head, looking as though he was in deep thought for some odd reason. The Yellow Paladin wondered what was going though Lance’ s mind at the moment.

“Alright…calm mind, focus, got it.” Hunk heard Lance mumble in a low voice.

Allura herself seemed intrigued by Lance’s strange murmuring as well. However, she respected his privacy by just politely asking, “Is there anything else you’d like to know, Lance?”

Lance lifted his face back up towards the princess. “Yeah, just one more question, Allura…if that’s alright.”

“As long as it is decent.” The princess replied smirking and raising a brow teasingly at the wannabe Casanova.

“Come on, you know I have too much class for that.” Lance shot back with a winning smile. Hunk had to fight to hold back a snort at that comment. He settled for a silent eye roll.

“Anyway,” Lance continued, now fiddling with his fingers in an absent-minded manner. “Um, I wanted to ask if the paladins of Voltron were made of different species. I mean, I know there were Altean paladins and now there are humans, but were there other species that were paladins as well?”

Hunk watched as Allura tilted her head at the Blue Paladin, her serene gaze regarding him curiously. “You are full of surprises today Lance.”

Lance chuckled, puffing out his chest. “Yep, that’s me! Always full of surprises and ready to impress, especially for the ladies!”

“Oh hush you,” Allura chided, though her eyes sparkled with amusement rather annoyance.  “To answer your question, Lance, yes though Alteans were the most popular race to be chosen for the titles as Paladins of Voltron, the Lions have had many species pilot them throughout the ages.” She leaned close to Lance, grinning as if sharing a big secret, “In fact, the former Blue Paladin was from the Strigan race. You remind me a lot of him.”

“Must have been a dashing, handsome devil then.”

“Well I don’t know what a devil is, but Strigans are an avian-based race. Soren had the loveliest blue feathers, but could chatter his beak off and would always show off by puffing his ridiculous crest feathers out the moment a cute alien came by.” Allura let out a sweet bell-like laugh at the memory.

_Sounds like a birdified Lance alright,_ Hunk thought with an amused smile. He imagined a peacock version of Lance strutting around, showing off his radiate feathers and had to bite down a chuckle before going back to spying on the two.

After a moment of reminiscing, Allura’s smile slowly started to fade.  Her eyes looked sad and gazed out to somewhere far, far away. “I do miss Soren. I miss all of them. At least I am grateful that was not present to see them eventually fall.” Her eyes closed and Hunk saw a tiny tear form at the corner her eye.

Lance looked torn at see the princess look so tearful. He glanced bashfully away, his face sorrowful and red with embarrassed regret. “I’m sorry, Allura. I shouldn’t have asked. I…I never meant to make you upset.”

“No, Lance, you have nothing to apologize for.” Allura quickly assure him, wiping her eyes. She let out one last tiny sniffle before composing herself, straightening her back and looked as dignified and regal as ever. “There is nothing wrong with remembering the past. In way it helps me remember what I’m fighting for.”

Hunk felt his heart go out to the Princess and, for a brief moment, felt the urge to reveal himself so that he could embrace her in a comforting hug. All of them knew how hard Allura strived to ensure that Voltron become strong enough to stop Zarkon so that the fall of her planet and the death of her loved ones would not be in vain. It was a miracle that she could suffer through so much but still remain the strong, confident leader that she was.

 Hunk’s thoughts on Allura faded as Lance’s voice hesitantly spoke up once more.

“Allura…”Lance began and Hunk caught a faint quiver of fear within his voice. “Were...were any of the former paladins Galra by any chance?”

The Yellow Paladin’s mind short-circuited in shock at the question. The air in the room seemed to become still, all noise muted.

Allura closed her eyes and turned her body away from Lance. Her voice was low as she answered, “Yes. Only one.”

“Zarkon.” Lance finished for her.

Allura whirled around, her azure dress billowing behind her, and fixed Lance with a wide-eyed stare. “How did you know?” she demanded.

Lance rolled his shoulders, lightly swaying on spot as he answered, “Let’s just say Lotor can be quite talkative when he’s trying to run a sword through you. Bet if we had fought long enough, he would have named the accomplishments of every evil family member."

Allura stared at him in astonishment a heartbeat more. Then she looked away guiltily, frowning. “Coran and I did not mean to keep such a fact secret, especially from Shiro. But it seemed wise at the time- you were all so new to everything. We did not wish to scare you off by revealing the Paladin’s darkest secret. That it was one of your own that brought the downfall of the universe upon us.” She gazed imploringly at Lance, a pleading gleam in her eyes. “Please to not tell the others- not yet. Our spirits are finally high once again- let there be some peace for a little while longer.”

Lance looked a bit troubled, but he still nodded. “Sure, I promise.”

Hunk felt a chill go down his spine at this horrifying revelation. How could have Zarkon- the most evil, twisted creature in the entire universe- had been chosen to become a Paladin? Not just any paladin, but the pilot of the Black Lion- Head of Voltron and leader of the rest? How could the lions, who were supposed to have wisdom beyond all mortal understanding, have made such a grave mistake?

What did that mean for the new paladins? A dark, dangerous thought crept up from the back of Hunk’s mind. If the lions had been mistaken before, could their decision to choose Hunk and his friends have been mistakes as well?

Hunk tried to push that thought away, instantly regretting ever eavesdropping on Lance and the Princess. He was about to turn and walk away, when suddenly he saw the princess take a step towards Lance.

He paused, interested peaked once more. Hunk cursed his insufferable nosiness.

Allura’s eyes- such a lovely balance of sky blue and dawn pink- stared searchingly into Lance’s own deeper blue ones. After a heartbeat, Allura suddenly took Lance’s hands into her own, gently grasping her delicate fingers around them.

Hunk felt his jaw drop. His friend seemed to share his own surprise. Lance was staring at their intertwined hands in disbelief before looking back up as the princess spoke.

“Thank you Lance for rescuing Keith and the Red Lion from the hands of Prince Lotor,” The Altean princess said, her expression solemn and her voice sincere. 

 Then a shadow seemed to fall over Allura’s face, darkening her eyes and turning her voice sharp and cold with barely concealed hatred. “The last thing we need is the right arm of Voltron in the hands of a wretched Galra. That species has defiled the sacred name of Voltron once and the universe has suffered ten thousand years because of it. Never must we make that mistake again!”

Hunk took a step away from the doorway, eyes wide and looking unsettled. The raw hatred and repulsion coming from the princess’ words and expression was unnerving to witness, especially since Allura was usually the beacon of sereneness and kindness. But Hunk understood her feelings- the Galra had taken everything from her just like they almost taken every from Shay and the Balmerains. Hunk felt enraged himself whenever he was remembered the horrible existence his beloved rock-skinned friend had had to live through.

Hunk was pulled away from his thoughts of Shay when he heard Allura’s voice speak to Lance, suddenly full of concern.

 “Lance is something wrong? You look quite pale.”

Hunk snapped his gaze back to his best friend and felt a jolt of alarm at how pale and wretched Lance suddenly looked. He almost looked like he was about to be sick.

Allura, her forehead furrowed with worry, reached out to place a hand on Lance’s cheek. “Lance, are you feeling well?”

Instead of melting into the princess’s hands like Hunk expected his lovesick friend to do, he saw Lance take a shaky step back. The tan-skinned paladin visibly gulped, a bead of sweat falling from his forehead.

“Y-Yeah. Just now realizing how…how close of a call Keith and I had.” He said in a voice that trembled slightly.

Princess Allura blinked at him. “Oh, I see.” Her puzzled expression then melted into a kind, sympathetic smile. “Well, take heart in that knowledge Lance that you and Keith will not have to face Prince Lotor alone in the future. We are all here to support you.”

The princess placed a reassuring hand on Lance’s shoulder as she finished speaking. Hunk saw Lance stare at the hand and then glance back at Allura’s smiling face- But instead of looking happy, Lance looked downcast. A beautiful princess was comforting him- why wasn’t Lance smiling back? Hell, why hadn’t he even ruined everything with a terrible pickup line yet? At least then Hunk would know that Lance was okay.

“Thanks Princess,” Lance finally said, “That’s… great to hear. “ The Blue Paladin took a step away, letting Allura’s hand fall from his shoulder. He forced a small smile on his face. “Thanks for the talk…we’ll have to do it again sometime. Call it a second date!” Lance added in a light, humorous tone.

.“Oh Lance!” Allura shook her head in disapproval, scowling irritably at him. However, Hunk saw a smile tug at her lips as soon as Lance had his back turned.

Hunk backed away from the entrance before Lance could see that he had been there listening in. When Lance walked through, he didn’t even seem to notice Hunk at all. The lanky, dark-haired teen looked disheveled, his face pale and his eyes wide and distressed. Hunk felt his gut twist with discomfort just looking him.

Still not even noticing that his best friend was standing just a few feet down the hall, Lance whirled around in the opposite direction, probably to his own room.

Hunk stared after his retreating friend, debating on whether or not to go ask him what was up when a voice suddenly piped up from behind him.

“There you are Hunk!”

Hunk let out a squeal of surprised and spun around to find Pidge standing behind him, staring up at him with a questioning expression on her face.

“What are you doing standing around here for? This morning you promised to meet me at the hangars after dinner to work on the upgrade for the Yellow Lion?”

Hunk’s mind was so wrapped around Lance’s strange behavior that it took him a couple of ticks to register what Pidge was saying. Once it got through, he slapped the side of his head in agitation at his own forgetfulness.

“Oh yeah! Sorry about that Pidge! I was on my way and got…um…well…distracted.”  The large teen fidgeted, not daring to meet the Green Paladin’s eyes out of fear of judgement for being caught spying on two of their friends.

Pidge narrowed her sharp eyes up at her taller teammate and made a “hmmph” noise of irritation, but luckily didn’t question him further. She turned around and started to head towards the elevators, gesturing for Hunk to follow. “Whatever, you can tell me about it while we start on the upgrades.”

Hunk followed dutifully behind her, listening as she launched into a long-length bullet point of every repair and modification she was planning to make on the Yellow Lion. Hunk did his best to remain attentive, nodding every few seconds, but as they at last came to the elevator that would lead them to the hangars below, Hunk came to a realization.

Lance hadn’t been heading to his own bedroom- he had been heading to the opposite direction. There was only one other bedroom that way.

_Keith’s._


	5. ...The Meal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A family breakfast brings out many revelations and leads to a worrying leader and friend.

Both Keith and Lance were late for breakfast the next day.  Though Hunk noticed that he seemed to be the only one that felt particularly concerned about it. Pidge, Shiro, Allura, and Coran were happily chatting away and already digging into their plates of some orange porridge-like substance that Hunk had spent the last hour making in the kitchen. He would be the very first to admit it wasn’t his most spectacular space dish but it was tastier than Coran’s goo and fairly easy to make. Hunk’s mind had been too muddled with thoughts over Lance’s odd behavior from the previous night to really put much focus on cooking. Lance and Keith’s lateness only escalated these worrisome thoughts.

_It’s not as if those two haven’t been late before_ , Hunk mentally reasoned with himself as he chewed his food. It was true- Lance had a habit of oversleeping at times and Keith had trouble keeping track of time during his early morning training sessions. Maybe he was concerned because they were both gone? Were they hanging out together? Hunk had seen Lance heading towards Keith’s room the night before. Had they had a bonding sleepover like he and Hunk had done many times back of the Garrison?

Hunk was surprised and slightly alarmed by how uncomfortable the last thought made him feel. Why did the idea of the Lance hanging out with Keith suddenly create such a dreadful stirring in his gut? Was it a warning? Or perhaps jealousy?

The Yellow Paladin shook himself to dispel such unpleasant thoughts. What was he thinking?! He should be happy that Lance and Keith were making a solid effort to get along better! So what if the two were acting a bit strange?

“They’re probably still getting used to being home again.” Hunk quietly told himself. “Stop worrying so much.”

“Did you say something?” Pidge asked, nudged Hunk’s thick arm with his elbow.

Hunk jumped a bit, startled. “Oh, um, just wondering where Lance and Keith are.”

Pidge’s bright amber eyes blinked up at Hunk, narrowing slightly as she studied him. Hunk had a feeling that Pidge could tell that something more was bothering him. Her bottom lip was pouted slightly in thought and, for a tick, it seemed she was about to question him further when Allura spoke.

“Oh, I would not be surprised if both were still asleep.”  Allura commented from her seat at the head of the table, having obviously heard Hunk’s answer to Pidge’s question. However, for once the white-haired princess did not sound vexed  by the two paladins’ tardiness.  Hunk could even hear a bit off mild concern coming from her voice as she continued, “It was clear yesterday that Keith had not slept well and last night Lance looked a bit ill before he retired.”

Hunk hurriedly started to resume eating his porridge, praying no one asked him anything. He couldn’t trust his tongue to not slip up and reveal his eavesdropping habits.

“Lance is ill you say, Princess?” Coran questioned, pausing from his meal. He started to twirl a finger around the curled end of ginger mustache, smiling as he cheerfully boasted, “Well, then I’ll just have to make our favorite Blue Paladin a kettle of some old Atlean Mirenettle brew! My grandfather always said a sip of it would a corpse jump back on its feet!”

There was a warm fondness nestled in Coran’s purple eyes as he talked of brewing up a remedy for Lance’s supposed ailment. Hunk had a growing suspicion that out of all the paladins, Coran had a soft spot for Lance the most.

Shiro stopped eating and lowered his spoon to stare across the table at the Altean princess, concern swelling in his dark eyes. “Really, Allura? Keith I understand, but Lance seemed fine during dinner.”

Allura took a sip of her own warm tea before replying to Shiro, “Yes, I thought so too, but he and I chatted in the control room and he looked quite poor afterwards.”

“Sure he wasn’t just upset that you turned down one of his pick up lines?” Pidge piped up.

Allura, for once, leapt to Lance’s defense. “Now Pidge, I’ll have you know that Lance was a perfect gentleman last night. We actually had quite a riveting conversation.”

“Oh my god, he is sick!”

“Pidge.” Shiro scolded with fatherly disapproval, sending the smirking Green Paladin a warning look before turning to Allura and smiling. “Good to hear that Lance is finally toning down a bit. What did you two talk about, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Hunk thought back to Allura’s reveal to Lance about Zarkon being the previous Black Paladin and sunk down in his seat, actively avoiding looking in Shiro’s direction. The porridge goo in his stomach was doing somersaults.

If Allura was thinking the same thing, then she was doing a much better job at hiding her emotions than Hunk could. She merely returned Shiro’s smile and began to speak animatedly, “Oh Lance was quite curious about Altean shapeshifting practices and training regiments.”

Hunk saw both Shiro and Pidge’s expressions blank out and he could understand. They had obviously not been expecting that to be one of Lance’s top topic choices for a conversation especially with a beautiful princess.

“That’s…um…” Shiro seem to be struggling find a comment that would not sound offensive towards either Lance nor Allura. “….unexpected. Yes, that is really unexpected.” He finally settled on. The paladin leader then asked, “Any reason in particular?”

“This is Lance- do we really want to know?” Pidge commented with a teasing smirk earning a playful eye roll from Hunk and an exasperated look from Shiro.

“I was quite curious myself,” Allura continued to answer Shiro’s question, ignoring Pidge’s snarky remark. “I even asked him if humans were capable of shapeshifting though Lance told me your species lack such capabilities.”

Shiro smiled kindly at the princess. “Lance is right with that one. Humans can change their appearances with the right tools, but not at will like an Atlean can.”

“We have animals that can though,” Hunk pointed out, finally feeling that the conversation had drifted into safe waters for him to wade into. “There’s caterpillars that become pretty butterflies!  Tadpoles into frogs….Oh, and  parrot fish can turn from male to female too.”

“Not sure if those are quite the same thing, Hunk.” Pidge interjected, “Most of those are permanent changes. I think a chameleon lizard fit the Atleans better.” She glanced over at Allura, shooting the princess a toothy grin as she explained, “They’re small lizards from earth that can change the color of their skin to fit in to their surroundings.”

“Fascinating!” Coran exclaimed.

“Can they change their entire body as well?” Allura inquired, leaning forward in her seat.

It was Shiro that answered. “Not really. Princess, the shapeshifting your people possess was considered a thing of legend and myth back on earth."

“And science fiction!” Pidge added.

“You mean science nonfiction now.” Hunk asked with a grin. If Lance had been at the table, Hunk knew he’d be laughing at his joke. But for now, Hunk was content in sharing an across table fist-bump with Pidge.

Then a thought suddenly crossed Hunk’s mind. “Hey hold the phone! If stuff like aliens and magic robot lions turned out to be real then how do we know stuff like vampires and werewolves aren’t real too?”

“Maybe all our mythological stuff on Earth were based on visiting aliens?” Pidge theorized with a flick of her hand. “You have to admit if a Galra was seen on earth a few thousand years ago, they’d make a pretty good bogeyman to scare children with.”

“That’s a good theory, Pidge.” Shiro praised warmly causing Pidge to flush with pleasure. “And after all we’ve witness so far, I’d say it’s possible.”

“Not just possible! Probable more likely! Which is possible but more! ” Coran added brightly. “There are quite a few data entries within our library catalog that contain information on Earth- most of it probably very much outdated, but it’s there. Which means that at one point in time one of our many notable Altean navigators has braved the galaxies to explore your beloved little backwater planet on the edge of the universe.”

“Thanks for making us sound like a bunch of primitive galaxy rednecks.” Pidge muttered dryly, flicking a piece of porridge in Coran’s direction. The royal advisor didn’t even notice it fly over his head and land on floor several feet away. It almost immediately devoured by the green mouse.

“Do you think there might still be any Atleans on Earth?” Hunk asked, generally curious. He knew how much both Coran and Allura missed their people. The Yellow Paladin figured that with all the billions of people on Earth, maybe there could be an Altean hiding among them?

Allura let out a sad sigh and drew a finger along the rim of her teacup. “It is a lovely thought, but unlikely. Explorations into far galaxies had discontinued after Zarkon began to rage war on us.” The princess rested a chin on the palm of her hand, her cerulean eyes gazing wistfully into space. “But who knows for certain? The Blue Lion did make it to earth…maybe someone was with her at the time?”

Hunk and everyone else at the table shared a look, the expressions on their faces all of sympathy.  As much as they all hoped that maybe somewhere in the universe more of Allura and Coran’s people survived, after ten thousand years, it was very unlikely that even if an Atlean had landed with Blue on Earth, that they were still even alive.

There was a disheartening lull in the conversation as everyone allowed the princess’s mind to wander and wish over near-hopeless fantasies.

Hunk swallowed a mouthful of porridge and brightly spoke up, trying to distract the princess from such melancholy thoughts and lighten the mood. “Hey so…um…Lance’s and Keith’s fighting was pretty cool yesterday right?”

At Hunk’s statement, Allura broke out of her quiet musing, blinking over at the Yellow Paladin with a spark of interest. “Yes, it was quite extraordinary to see.”

Both Coran and Shiro shot Hunk grateful looks.

“Yeah,” Pidge picked up the topic enthusiastically. “Who would have thought those two could step up like that?”

Coran cleared his throat for attention, “Can’t say I’m quite too surprised. Throughout history the Red and Blue Paladins were well-known for their stupendous teamwork in battle.  One ancient enemy in begone times compared it to ‘trying to battle against a maelstrom of fire and ice’.” His ginger mustache curled with grin as he added, “From what I saw yesterday, I’d dare to guess that our Lance and Keith might have even bond synchronized while they were away.”

Hunk immediately sprayed a mouthful of porridge all over the table at the very moment Shiro began choking on his food and Pidge shrieked, “HOLY QUIZNAK THEY FUCKED?!!”

“Language Pidge!” Allura snapped, taking over as parent while Shiro pounded his own chest with a fist to force his food down.

“Sorry, Allura. HOLY SHIT THEY FUCKED!”

Allura smiled in an appeased manner. “Thank you Pidge.”

Hunk briefly wondered if Pidge would ever forgive him if he told Allura that ‘fuck’ was considered as bad as a word as ‘quiznak’ on Earth.  He decided he couldn’t risk it.

Shiro finally managed to swallow the lump of porridge. He shot Pidge a warning glare before turning to give Coran a wide-eyed, confused stare. “Coran, I’m as impressed by Keith and Lance’s teamwork as anyone else, but…don’t you think it’s a bit much to jump straight to that conclusion?  I mean, the two of them have worked together well on missions before…” The Black Paladin’s words faltered and died as he realized what that could imply. He adopted the thousand yard stare of a soldier that had seen too much.

Coran blinked and cocked his head to one side in puzzlement at all their reactions. “Fucked you say? Oh no, sexual intercourse has nothing to do with bond synchronization- though, there are writings that say it can help so perhaps…”

Hunk pressed his hands to his ears, trying to block out Coran’s voice. “LALALA! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!”

Princess Allura let out an amused giggle before composing herself once more. “Oh dear, Coran stop it. You know how squeamish humans are about such things. Let me properly explain- as I’ve mentioned many times before the paladins all share a bond linked through the forming of Voltron. When you form Voltron, your quintessence and minds are linked together. You all share individually share a similar bond to your lions as well where you can feel and see what your lion is experiencing.”

Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro all nodded to confirm this, listening with rapt attentiveness.

“But it is also possible to experience this shared bond outside of forming Voltron and with your own fellow paladins,” Allura continued, her blue eyes alit. “It takes time and a lot of effort, but it is possible to be able to harmonize your quintessence together with your fellow comrades. Paladins of old would do this to aid each other in battlefields and fight as one.”

Coran stepped in. “From historic recordings, it seems that it easiest for the Red and Blue paladins to sync with one another since both form the right side of Voltron. In that regard, the Yellow and Green paladins were most compatible as well since both form the left side.”

Hunk looked over at Pidge who did the same, raising her bushy eyebrows in honest surprise. “So, me and Pidge could learn to fight together like that?” Hunk asked, unable to keep the tone of disbelief out of his voice.

“Bond synchronization can happen with any paladin as long as the bond is strong enough.” Allura answered.

“So you believe that Keith and Lance might have gone through that based on how well they were fighting?” Shiro questioned. The white-streaked man did not look doubtful, just mildly perplexed by the revelation.  Hunk could understand- it just seemed odd that Lance and Keith, two rivals who were polar opposites, could forge a bond of that level before anyone else. It would make more sense if Keith and Shiro had synced or perhaps himself and Lance.

Once more, the strange, poison-like stirring resurfaces in his gut. He quickly squashed it back down before it could grow by chewing his porridge extra vigorously.

“I don’t think any of us can say for sure until we talk to both Lance and Keith together.” Allura admitted. She frowned and hummed in discontent, muttering, “I should have asked Lance about it last night. Such knowledge could help the rest of you reach synchronization faster. Imagine how much stronger Voltron could be if such a thing could occur.” 

 As if on cue, the doors of the common slid open with a hiss. Hunk looked up from his plate and saw Lance enter alone. He was quick to see that Lance wasn’t looking like his usual morning self- not say he looked ragged like Keith was yesterday, but his usually well cared for brown skin did lack its usual, moisturized glow and his scruffy, hazel hair needed another brush or two in several places. His blue eyes still held a tired, half-awake look.

“Mor-“ Lance let out a yawn, “Morning everyone. Sorry I’m late.”

Allura’s face light up like a morning star and she practically shot up from her chair. “Lance! You’re just in time- we have a lot to discuss!”

The princess’s loud, unusually elated voice shocked Lance into full awakeness. “Huh?”

He blinked large and confused eyes at Allura and at everyone now staring expectantly at him from the table. This was obviously not the kind of reception had been expecting. For once, Lance didn’t seem to be happy to be the center of attention.

Lance fixed a confused look towards Hunk, his round eyes wordlessly asking, _What the hell is going on?_

Hunk could only shrug his shoulders helplessly. It was too much for him to explain through silent gestures.

Lance fixed Hunk with a look of annoyance before focusing back on Allura and everyone else staring. Hunk watched him put on a practiced smile and attempt to assume his usual laid- back, charming air.

“Well, a lovely morning to you too Princess! Though not as lovely as you, yourself, I might add.” Lance drawled a flirtatious tone causing Shiro to groan and Pidge to make a disgusted face behind her bowl of porridge.

Allura, however, seemed quite immune at this point. She merely ignored the compliment with a distracted wave of her hand. “Yes, yes, it is a lovely morning. Now Lance,” She focused her crystal blue eyes on the paladin, gaze sharpening to an intensity that made Lance’s smile falter slightly with nervousness, “there is something very important topic that needs to be discussed.”

Lance winked roguishly at the snow-haired princess. “Anything for you! I am an open book.”

“It regards you and Keith.”

Lance looked like Sendak had suddenly teleported out of midair and sucker-punched him in the stomach.

“ _…….wha_?” asked Lance in a small, high-pitched voice that would have made Hunk laugh if his friend didn’t look so terrified for some reason. His pupils had shrunk to dark pinpoints and were darting back and forth like a cornered animal searching for an escape route. After a tick, Lance seemed to gather senses. He gave his friends a shaky smile and laughed nervously.

“Keith? Haha! Who wants to talk about Keith?! Keith is as lame as his mullet. Let’s talk about Hunk instead! Hunk is that a new dish you made? Hope you saved some for me big guy!”

Ignoring the perplexed stared everyone was shooting him, Lance rushed to take his seat besides Hunk, fill his plate, and start eating with gusto, filling his mouth to the brim with as bite and taking an immensely long time to chew. Hunk had an uneasy feeling that Lance was purposely avoiding having to talk about Keith, though he wasn’t sure why. Did they have an argument?

Allura’s eyes narrowed into a glare of impatience. She was obviously but off by Lance changing the conversation. “Lance, this is a very important subject! Please set down your spoon and listen! It regards the training session from yesterday.”

Lance reluctantly gulped his porridge down. “Is it about the bruise I gave him?”

Hunk heard a nervous twinge in his voice and tried to sooth his friend’s concern. “Don’t worry, buddy we know it was an accident.”

He was happy to see Lance’s tense shoulders lower in a relaxed manner at his words. The strange nervousness that had possessed his friend was slowly easing away.

“Oh, well then…what was it you wanted to talk about then?” Lance asked hesitantly. There was still a wary gleam in his eyes.

Allura opened her mouth to speak but was halted by Shiro who raised his prosthetic hand. “Perhaps it would be best to wait until Keith gets here too since it does concern both of them.”

The dark-skinned princess frowned, but at the insistent look on Shiro’s face she reluctantly relented. “I suppose you are correct.”

Black Paladin gaze Allura a grateful look and then turned to fix Lance with a warm reassuring smile. “Don’t look so tense, Lance. Neither of you are in trouble- Allura and Coran just  think you two’s training session yesterday might help the rest of the team a bit.”

Hunk watched Shiro’s smile shifted into a concerned frown when Lance unleashed an obvious sigh of relief. His dark, acute eyes narrowed slightly as he leaned forward and asked, “Do you know where Keith is, Lance?”

Lance froze in the act of lifting a spoon full of orange space porridge up to his open mouth. A drop of it fell back into the bowl.

 “Oh…um…yeah…about Keith,” Lance said absent-mindedly, twirling the orange substance around the bowl with his spoon, his blue eyes wandering the room, not meeting anyone’s face. “I stopped by his room and he’s not…um… he’s not really feeling well.”

Hunk watched the expression on Shiro immediate transform into worried-team-parent-mode. “Is he alright? Should I go check on him?” The Black Paladin was already starting to rise from his chair.

“NO!” Lance shrieked loudly, standing up from his seat with a look of absolute panic spread across his face, his arms reaching out towards Shiro, palms spread wide in a halting gesture. Shiro sat back down, eyes wide with shock.

Seeing every eye in the room staring at him in shock as his extreme reaction, Lance pasted a toothy smile on his face and let out a nervous chuckle, sweat glistening on his forehead.

“Haha…what I mean is…” Lance began in a much calmer, quieter voice, slowly edging away from his chair. “…that Keith is totally fine, Shiro! Just a bad stomach ache. Probably still getting used to having to eat space goo again! Poor mullet-man has such a delicate stomach.”  Lance added with an almost tearful sigh, a hand over his heart.

Hunk found himself looking over at Pidge, wondering if she felt as confused as he did at the bizarre scene unfolding before them. She looked back at him with an unamused expression, one eyebrow raised. The Green Paladin was obviously not buying the act Lance was pulling. Hunk looked over to Shiro and saw their leader still frowning, his eyebrows furrowed in mild confusion.

He clapped his hands together and smiled charmingly at everyone around the table. “Anyway, I think it’s best that poor Keith takes a break from training today. Unless, you know, we all want to clean up Keith vomit off the Gladiator and I’m pretty sure none of us want that. I know I don’t! Haha…”

“Should I fix him some tea? Might do the boy some good.” Coran asked helpfully.

Lance dismissed the idea with a much-too-bright smile and  frantic wave of his hand, “Oh don’t worry about it Coran! I’ll just bring him some of Hunk’s delicious weird, orange porridge goo. Sure, that’ll ease his stomach.” Lance grabbed the nearest empty bowl and began to quickly fill it up, rapidly speaking, “In fact, since I’m already full, I’ll just go ahead and bring it to him right now!”

“Do you want me to bring it, Lance?” Hunk asked, feeling an overwhelming sense of concern for how odd his best friend was acting. “You literally just got here a few minutes ago.”

But Lance was already halfway out of the door, a bowl of orange porridge nestled in the crook of his elbow. He waved an arm to acknowledge  Hunk’s words. “Naw, it’s good! You guys stay, I’ll meet you in training!”

As the doors slid shut a baffled silence hung in the air.

It was broken by the sound of Shiro sliding his chair back. The white-streaked paladin stood up, briskly addressing the rest of the company, “I’ll be back. Best if I go have a word with him and see if everything’s alright.”

Without another word, Shiro took leave, exiting the dining room to head after Lance.

Coran stood up too. “Princess you were quite right about Lance seeming a bit ill. Best if I get that Mirenettle brewing! Hunk would you like to join me?”

Hunk did feel that if Coran was making something for Lance, then it would be best if he was in the kitchen as well to make sure whatever Mirenettle was it would be safe for human consumption. However, he felt the need to make sure Lance was alright first.

The large paladin nodded, “Sure, I’ll meet you there. Just…um…give me a few ticks to grab something from my room.”

He said a quick good bye to Pidge and Allura and headed out of the dining room and into the long, winding corridors of the castle. He set off in the direction of the paladins’ quarters.  It took only a few ticks of walking before Hunk began to hear some voices. Hunk slowed his pace and peeked around a corner to see the broad back of Shiro who was standing in front of Lance, speaking. Hunk remained silent, not wanting to disturb the conversation.

“Lance, are you sure everything’s okay?” Shiro was asking in the tone of a worried parent.

Hunk saw Lance flash Shiro a cocky grin. “Of course, everything’s fine Shiro! Why wouldn’t eve-“

“ _Lance._ ” Shiro interrupted, his voice lowering to a warning growl. The Black Paladin wasn’t going to let Lance ramble his way out of the conversation. His stern expression softened when the younger paladin fell silent and staring at the ground in an abashed manner.  

“Lance, please talk to me.”  Hunk heard Shiro say in a gentle voice, “I know both you and Keith have been acting very odd since you’ve been back.  Neither of you have been sleeping well at all and during the exercise you sounded like you were in on the verge of a panic attack before Keith snapped you out of it.”

“I was fine.” Lance muttered quietly, still staring at the ground in a defiant manner.

“But you might have not been.” Shiro placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Lance, I understand what you’re going through.”

The blue paladin looked up at Shiro, blinking in shock. “Y…You do?”

Shiro gave Lance a warm, empathetic smile. “Of course, Lance.  Look, I know what it’s like being a prisoner for the Galra- I know how cruel they can be and how difficult it is to escape once they have you in their clutches. I can understand if you and Keith are still shaken over your experience being prisoners of Lotor. I’m sure it’s not much of a secret that I’m still dealing with the aftermath of my stay with the Galra.”

Shiro turned his head to the side and Hunk saw from his profile that there was a haunted look in his dark eyes. Hunk felt a pang of sympathy toward his leader- all of them hated to see Shiro suffer through his horrific flashbacks of his time as the bloodthirsty Champion.

Lance looked horrified at seen such a distraught expression on Shiro’s face. “Hey, come on Shiro, you’re doing a great job! Seriously, you spent a whole year being a Galra prisoner, escaped all by yourself, and became the leader of the coolest defenders the universe could ask for! I think you deserve more than you give yourself credit for.”

Hunk managed to see a smile start to form on Shiro face as he turned back to look straight at Lance, his back in line with Hunk’s vision once more.

“Thank you Lance.” The Black Paladin said fondly. “As I saying before, if you and Keith are having any difficulties getting over whatever you had to go through as Lotor’s prisoners, just let me know. I want to help you.”

When Lance went back to staring dishearteningly at the ground in silence, Shiro took a cautious step forward, asking once more, “Is there anything you’d like to talk about, Lance?”

Lance glanced up at Shiro, his blue eyes wide, an earnest, almost hopeful expression slowly starting spread across his tan-skinned face.

“Shiro, I…” Lance began.

It was no secret to Hunk that Shiro had always been a hero to Lance. Hunk knew how much Lance respected Shiro- back at the Garrison, Lance had worked hard to follow in his beloved idol’s footsteps to become a fighter pilot. And he knew that Lance’s admiration for Shiro had only grown since becoming the paladins of Voltron, especially after Shiro had risked his own life to protect Lance during Sendak’s capture of the Castle of the Lions. So Hunk knew without a doubt that if anyone could get Lance to reveal anything that was troubling him, then Shiro would.

“…I mean…Keith…Um…” Even with Shiro's encouraging face gazing upon him, Lance’s words began to falter. After a quick pause, the young blue paladin took a deep, shuddering breath and then looked back up Shiro, speaking in a steady voice. “Everything’s fine Shiro.”

Seeing Shiro opening his mouth to argue, Lance hastily continued, “I mean, yes, you’re right. Escaping from Lotor was…umm…a lot more difficult than I made it out to be earlier. A lot happened and…well…it…it was rough for a while, but me and Keith are okay. We’re getting through it so don’t worry. It’s nothing the Red and Blue Paladin can’t handle.”

Shiro gave the russet-haired young man a long look. Hunk watched Lance fidget nervously under the Black Paladin’s disapproving gaze. Finally, after a few tense heartbeats, Shiro let out a long sigh of resignation.

“Alright, Lance. If that’s what you want. I’m having everyone take a break from training today.  I want both you and Keith resting, is that clear?”

Lance replied with a tiny nod. “Yes, Shiro.”

“Good. And Lance,” Shiro placed a hand atop of Lance head, gently ruffling his soft, scruffy hair. “Please, come get me if you and Keith need anything. Remember, we’re all a team. We’re here to help each other.”

With one last kind smile towards Lance, Shiro turned and leave, heading back to the dining room. Hunk hurried to make his way back towards the kitchens, not wanting the Black Paladin to catch him listening in on the conversation. But even as Hunk made to the kitchen, he found it impossible to push away the image of Lance’s face out of his mind- it was hard to forget the horrible expression of guilt and remorse on his best friend’s face as he had watched his leader and hero walk away.


	6. ....The Closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk attempts to deliver a treat but ends up in a dark place full of mice and yarn. He breaks a vow and overhears a conversation full of chinchilla references, snark, and secrets.

Hunk realized that Coran was quite accurate in saying that his Mirenettle tea could make a corpse jump back up. However, he was quite sure that the said corpse would probably be jumping back up to find the nearest cliff to jump off of to avoid taking another sip of the vile tasting tea.

The dark-skinned paladin shuddered as he pushed a steaming cup of the oddly blue-colored tea to the side. If Lance and Keith were indeed feeling ill, he was sure a sip of this would send them both into a coma. At this point he was positive that Atlean taste buds must be programmed dramatically different from humans- there was just no other explanation for Allura and Coran’s unusual taste. 

Hunk began to hastily, but silently, gather a couple jars of herbs from under the counter, hoping that he’d be able to find something to remedy this drink.

Luckily, Coran had his back turned to Hunk, cheerfully humming an old Atlean tune as he prepared some cookie-like snacks to go along with the tea.

Hunk was glad that he had come to take up Coran’s offer to help in the kitchen. Such a familiar setting always put him at ease especially after all the stress regarding whatever it was that Lance was going through. Of course, Hunk knew that it was probably his own fault for all the eavesdropping he’d been doing the last few days, but how could he not listen in on Lance’s private conversations when it was obvious that something was troubling his best friend? 

Hunk suppressed a sigh as he sprinkled a bit of crushed up pink herbs into the blue tea. No matter how much he tried to justify his actions, Hunk knew it was still wrong to be listening in on Lance so much. 

_Well too late now,_ Hunk thought guiltily as he added a touch of what almost tasted like mint into the tea and stirred, _I’ll just promise myself to be more sensitive to Lance’s privacy. No more spying. Nope! I’m going to be more upfront._

Hunk took an experimental sip and let a satisfied hum of approval. Much better. The Yellow Paladin gave himself a mental pat on the back for fixing the tea and for the promise of bettering his horrible habit of invasion of privacy. 

“There we go! All ready!” Coran loudly announced, clapping his hands together after he placed the last green cookie-like pastry onto a serving tray. He turned to Hunk and giddily asked, “Hunk, mind passing the kettle?” 

Hunk flashed Coran a smile and obliged his request, silent praying that the ginger-haired adviser would not taste-test it and notice the difference. Luckily, Coran merely filled the two teacups and, after flashing the assortment of tea and cookies a quick, scrutinizing glance, he nodded in satisfaction. 

“Right! I think we’re all fit to take these beauties to the ill l— Oy! Get away from there you little scampers!” 

Hunk couldn’t up but chuckle a bit at the sight of Coran shooing away the four mice that had been edging close to the food-laden tray. With tiny squeaks, the mice darted further down the counter, tails in the air and whiskers twitching. 

Coran glared after the pastel-colored rodents a moment longer, mustache twitching with annoyance, before turning to address Hunk. 

“Ahem, as I was stating, this should be a good pick-me-up for young Lance and Keith. My old Mirenettle recipe has never failed before! Seen paladins on their deathbed bounce back as right as tribbles after a sip!” 

Hunk fought back grimace. “I bet.” His expression brightened as an idea suddenly took him, “Hey Coran do you want me to bring this up to Lance and Keith? I wanted to visit them anyway.” 

Coran clapped a hand upon Hunk’s broad shoulder, beaming brightly. “Of course! Always a delight to see you paladins taking care of one another.” As he handed the tray over to Hunk, Coran made sure to point towards the blue cup and happily remark, “But sure to tell Lance that I put some extra grounded glumpworm in his cup! Just a little special treat to liven the taste a bit. Sure he’ll enjoy it!” 

Hunk thanked all the stars in the universe that he wasn’t Coran’s favorite. 

“Haha, sure will, Coran.” Hunk assured the kindly advisor with a mirthful grin on his lips. He couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle of amusement thinking about what other ‘delicious’ surprises Coran must had mixed in with Lance’s food in the past. He made a mental note to gossip to Pidge later. 

Bidding Coran farewell, Hunk, with a tray of tea and snacks in hand, made his way through the Castle towards the sleeping quarters of the Paladins. Lance’s room was closest so Hunk decided to stop there first and then drop Keith’s food off last. 

Balancing the tray with one large hand, Hunk used his free one to knock on the metal door and call out. “Hey Lance, open up! Got something for you!” 

He paused, waiting expectantly for the sound of hurried footsteps or of Lance’s gleeful voice and the ‘whoosh’ of the door opening. But the door remained firmly shut and no sound at all answered. 

Puzzled, Hunk knocked loudly and raised his voice. “Lance? Buddy, it’s me Hunk! I got food- and don’t worry, I helped make it so it’s safe!” 

Once more, there was nothing but silence to come from the metal barrier between Hunk and Lance’s room. Hunk briefly wondered whether or not Lance had fallen asleep while borrowing Pidge’s headphones again. He contemplated on whether or not he should just walk in. 

Yellow Paladin’s musings were interrupted by the sound of squeaking. The young man looked down and blinked in surprise to see the four Altean mice on the food trap, nibbling on some of the cookies. 

“HEY!” Hunk cried out in alarm, jumping in in a startled manner. His elbow accidentally bumped into the door, activating it to slide right open. 

The mice took the opportunity to each grab a cookie in their mouths and leap off the tray, running to the safety of Lance’s room. 

Vow of privacy forgotten, Hunk set the tray down by the doorway and rushed after the rodents, calling out, “Come back here you little pests! Those are for Lance and Keith!” 

The colorful mice ignored the headband wearing paladin and dashed across the room, leaping into the safety of an open closet. With a grunt of frustration, Hunk crawled in after them into the dark, limited space. Hunk let out a squeak of surprise when the closet door automatically slide shut behind him. He recovered after a tick and took a quick glance around. 

He had assumed that Lance’s closet would look similar to his own and be basically empty. After all, none of his companions had really managed to bring much with them besides the clothes on their backs and whatever was in their pockets when they had left Earth on Blue so many cycles ago. However, to his surprise, Lance’s closet had quite the assortments of items stashed away within it. 

Hunk’s dark eyes were immediately drawn to Lance’s beloved Blue Lion slippers. Lance had claimed that he had found them at the foot of his bed in his room the first night they had slept in the Castle. Allura assured them that all the paladins had similar slippers somewhere in the Castle, but Lance so far had been the only one to find his. This just confirmed to Hunk and everyone else that the previous Blue Paladin had been just as big as dork as Lance is and prized the slippers just as much. 

Hunk’s gaze moved away from the adorable slippers to spot a neatly folded pile of blue, hand-knitted clothes ranging from sweaters to socks. He looked around some more and saw more piles of clothing- a red pile, a yellow pile, a green pile...wait, _Lance could knit?!_

“Wow, Lance wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to knit those Arusians some sweaters.” Hunk remarked with slight bemusement. He had no idea his best friend had a secret talent. The mice and stolen food were forgotten as he pulled a yellow pile of clothing closer. The item on top of the pile turned out to be a big sweater with a goofy image of the Yellow Lion on it. 

“Awwwww...that’s so sweet!” Hunk cooed in delight, hugging the Yellow Lion sweater to his chest. His expression then fell into a look of confusion. “Wait….where the quiznak did Lance get all this yarn?!” 

The Yellow Paladin’s thoughts were interrupted by some squeaks. He looked down to see the four thieving rodents poking their furry heads out from under the folds of the red clothes pile, their beady black eyes twinkling with mischief. The large green one was chewing the remains of Hunk’s stolen food. 

Hunk glared at the mice, jaw locked with indignation. A growl rose in his throat as he leaned close to them, hands raised up and fingers curled threateningly like claws. “Ooooh you fluffballs are getting it now! Wait until I…” 

The electrical whoosh of a door opening filled the air. 

Hunk flinched and quickly shut his mouth and listened to the sounds of footsteps entering the bedroom. Lance was back. The large man relaxed slightly- he didn’t have to worry too much about Lance being annoyed with Hunk sneaking into room. He knew Lance came from a big family of many siblings where privacy was a rarity. However at the sounds of a second set of footsteps following the first, Hunk felt himself tense up once more. 

Who was with Lance? 

Then there was a voice, low and steely. 

“Lance, are you sure this is a good idea?” 

In the semi-darkness of the closet, Hunk and the four mice shared a puzzled look. _Keith?_

“All my ideas are good!” chimed in Lance with a boastful air. 

“Yeah, like eating those berries.” 

“….I thought we agreed to never speak of that incident again.” Hunk heard Lance let out a sigh. “Look, it’s best if you stay in here until we get everything under control. Shiro will probably try and check up on you if you’re stuck in your room all day—you know how worried he gets. At least if Shiro comes, I can stuff you in my closet until he leaves.” 

Hunk began to sweat nervously at Lance’s statement. 

“But someone could have seen us…” 

“For the last time, I double and tripled checked the hallways before we left your room. Everyone is busy right now- Shiro is talking with Allura in the control room, Pidge is on her laptop in her room, and I saw both Coran and Hunk in the kitchen. Trust me! I used to sneak out of the Garrison all the time back on Earth. I’m a freakin’ pro at it!" 

“Yeah, like when you tried to sneak into the Galra ship that one time?” 

“I’ll have you know I got pretty far into that ship!” Lance let out an annoyed huff. “Besides the point is that I got you here unseen! Show a bit of gratitude, Fluff Ears!” 

Within the dark closet, Hunk and the mice blinked in unison. 

_Fluff Ears?_

The four mice scampered out of the folds of the cloth and over to Hunk; the green and tiny blue one settles in his laps while the red and tall one took a shoulder. They all made _shh_ ing gestures to the large paladin. Hunk nodded and together they all listened closely. 

The universe obviously did not care about his earlier oath of respecting privacy. 

There was the sound of Keith letting out an annoyed huff of breath as well the sound of a mattress being sat upon. “Alright! Thanks for sneaking me in Lance, so what’s your big plan to fix this now?” 

Hunk heard a soft tapping to go along with the lengthy silence- perhaps Lance was drumming his fingers against the dresser in thought? 

There was a click of a tongue before Lance replied in a low, voice tinged with worry and frustration. “I’m…I’m not really sure yet.” The Blue Paladin admitted earning a loud groan from Keith. Lance quickly added in a brighter tone, “But we have off of training today so at least we have time to fix this!” 

_Fix what?!_ Hunk desperately wanted to ask, but at this point coming out of the closer would be a horrible idea. He was too afraid of Lance and Keith’s reaction of him listening in to their obviously very private conversation. 

“What if we can’t?” Keith growled. “I look as bad as back in the prison cell!” 

“Aw come on, you’re not…..as…bad? Sure your skin’s a bit…um…splotchy-er and you definitely have that chinchilla ear thing going on….” Lance replied in a voice that was unconvincingly light and upbeat despite the small, annoyed growling noises Keith was making, “But hey! Your eyes are still the same! That’s a major plus! And—oh, those are looking a bit sharp. Should probably find some gloves that actually cover your fingers or I guess I can file them down too…” 

Keith let out a noise that sounded like a mix of growl and whine. “How are we going to hide everything else then?” 

“How about we try that thing Allura was telling me about?” 

“The whole keeping a clear mind and focusing thing?” 

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” 

“Don’t you think I haven’t tried that since you told me last night? I’ve been focusing on trying to change back all night!” 

“How about the keeping calm part?” 

“I’M COMPLETELY CALM!” Keith screeched in such an angry tone that it almost caused Hunk to let out a shriek of fright. Luckily he slapped a hand over his mouth just in time. The mice all gave Hunk warning glares, noses and whiskers twitching. Hunk felt slightly offended that he was being silently scolded by rodents. 

“Oh yeah, totally calm.” Lance sarcastically replied. “The whole spitting wet cat look completely sells it.” 

Hunk heard Keith let out a loud, aggressive huff of air. “Well, you know it’s kind of hard to really keep calm when it feels like I’m always two ticks away from exposing myself in front of the entire team every time I leave the room!” 

“Hey, we’ve having been caught yet! Mostly thanks to me, I should add.” Lance’s tone was borderline smug. 

“Well it’s only a matter of time,” Keith replied irritably, “Let’s face it, no offense, but you aren’t really the best liar, Lance.” 

The sound of Lance letting out a string of loud, flabbergasted splutters filled the air. “HEY! Who totally saved your purple splotched butt during training yesterday!? Huh? ME THAT’S WHO!” 

“Yeah, but who almost blew it at breakfast?!” Keith shot back. 

“Because you made me look like a klutz!” 

“I was acting like you told me too, idiot! I don’t really think you’re that clumsy….most of the time.” Hunk barely was able to hear the last part since Keith’s voice had fallen into a low, slightly embarrassed sounding mumble. 

“What the quiznak is the going on?” Hunk whispered to the mice on his shoulders. He leaned as close as he could to the surface of the closet door, though was careful not to touch it and risk opening it by mistake. The mice shrugged their little shoulders, just as confused as the Yellow Paladin. 

“Oh, well….” The agitated fire had died in Lance’s voice and when he spoke again he sounded less ruffled. “Okay, I know it’s a bit difficult at the moment, but let’s try the whole calm mind thing again.” There was a pause and then Lance spoke again in a joking manner, “Do you want me to show you some calming yoga poses? I did classes with my sister back at home.” 

Keith let out a snort that Hunk thought almost sounded like laughter. “Knew there was a reason you were so bendy.” This earned a chuckle from Lance. 

The Red Paladin took several large, deep breathes and exhaled loudly. He repeated the process for several ticks while Lance kept silent. After a minute or two, Keith asked, “Well? Any changes?” 

Hunk heard an inquisitive hum from Lance. “Umm…well…those splotches look a bit paler. A bit. If you squint juuuuuust right….” 

“Just say no already.” Keith deadpanned. 

“Well excuse me for trying to be encouraging!” There was the sound of a body flopping itself upon the bed. Then Lance spoke again, his voice subdued to a more serious tone. “Do you think stress is causing all this to act up? You know, from trying to keep all this a secret?” 

_Keep what a secret?!_ Hunk mentally screamed, wanting desperately to open the closet door and see what the hell was going on. 

Keith let out a suffering sigh. “Maybe.” The Red Paladin then let out a low, annoyed growl. “Ugh, maybe I should have taken up Thace’s offer.” 

Within the darkness of the closet, Hunk gave an owlish blink. _Thace? Who the hell was Thace?_

“Don’t say that.” Lance snapped his voice unusually sharp. “You belong with us and not traveling who knows where with Mr. Purple Goatee! Besides, I thought you couldn’t stand being around him?” 

Hunk flinched when Keith sudden growled angrily, “I don’t! I hate his guts!” His voice then lowered to a quiet murmur, “But, I might be better off with that asshole than having to lie to everyone here.” 

Though Hunk could not see him, he could imagine Keith brooding in silence with his arms across and bushy eyebrows furrowed in a scowl. A tense silence followed the exchange. Hunk squirmed a bit in his tiny enclosure; his legs were starting to cramp up and fall asleep on him causing a lot of discomfort. 

“Keith,” Lance began, speaking slowly as if taking his time to choose each word carefully, “Do you want to tell everyone? I mean, it might be better to tell the truth sooner rather them find out later.” 

_FIND OUT WHAT?_ Hunk mentally screamed. Then Keith’s cold voice cut through the air like a dagger. 

“No.” 

Lance let out a weary sigh. He didn’t seem pleased by the answer. 

Keith went on, not waiting for Lance to respond, “You know how they’ll all react, especially Allura! You told me yourself that it would be a bad idea for her to find out.” There was no longer any anger in Keith’s voice – only desperation. “It’ll ruin everything we worked for if anybody finds out. Do you really think it’d be possible to form Voltron when everyone finds out who their teammate really is? They’d all hate me! Shiro would….” 

Keith’s voice trailed off to a miserable silence as if he couldn’t bear to finish the thought. 

“They’ll understand. Maybe even Allura too.” Lance said, his voice lowered to a soft, comforting murmur that Hunk rarely heard from his usually lively and loud friend. _“I did.”_

“You hit on anything that’s remotely feminine and has a pulse- your judgement is a little bit odder than a normal person’s.” Keith grumbled earning an annoyed snort from Lance. 

“Shut up and enjoy the bonding moment, you dumb mutant chinchilla.” Lance retorted though Hunk could hear a sweet fondness shimmer through the playful taunt. 

Keith was silent for a few ticks. When he spoke again, Hunk heard desperation in his voice and, to his utmost shock, _fear._

“Lance, just don’t tell anyone. I…I…just don’t want to risk it, okay?” 

There was a pause. Then Keith spoke once more, his voice more timid then Hunk had ever heard it sound before. 

_“Please?”_

For a heartbeat there was silence, and then Lance let out a suffering, defeated breath. 

“Okay, okay, I promise I’ll keep everything a secret.” Lance reassured in a calming voice. A beat passed and then Lance added seriously, “But only if you don’t talk about leaving ever again. Seriously, not only are you the only Red Paladin available, but you’re my archrival! Be pretty selfish of you if you left me high and dry like that.” 

Keith let out a loud snort. “You know you could just make Hunk your rival?” 

Lance let out a laugh. “Nah, Hunk’s my best friend. Best friends can’t be rivals. So you can’t leave. Like ever. No choice at all.” 

Hunk was shocked to hear a genuine laugh come from Keith. An honest to god laugh. Now Hunk had heard their Red Paladin laugh a few times, usually from one of his own goofy jokes or at one of Pidge’s sarcastic remarks, but had never witnessed the raven-haired teen laugh at any of Lance’s antics. 

“Haha, Jeez, you’re really making me reconsider not just handing myself right back over to Lotor.” Keith said chuckling, no bite at all in his words. 

“Then I’d just come back and rescue you again. Face it, mullet head, you can’t escape our legendary rivalry!” 

“Knew I should have tossed you off my hover bike back in the desert when I had the chance.” 

“Well too late now! You’re stuck with me!” Lance chirped cheerfully earning a quiet, but still earnest, chuckle from Keith. 

Still within the dim, yarn-filled confines of Lance’s closet, Hunk listened to the two other paladins’ friendly, almost affectionate, exchange. The Yellow Paladin wanted desperately to feel happy at hearing his two friends willingly open up to each other, and truly part of him was bubbling with a syrupy warmth at hearing them playfully jab at one another with laughter in their voices. However, another part of him, a part that rapidly growing, spreading like poison, was twisting with worry and suspicion at their previous words, the dark confession that a secret was being kept from the team. Something that both Keith and Lance were afraid of anyone knowing. 

Hunk’s brooding worrisome thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Lance let out a startled gasp. The bed squeaked as if someone had jumped. 

“Look! Look! Look!” Lance babbled excited like a child. “Your ears! They look normal!” 

“They do?” Keith asked sounding dazed. “What abou—“ Keith’s words cut off into a startled squeak for some reason. 

Hunk heard Lance let out a humming sound. “Yep, the splotches are disappearing too. I’m also spying less fuzz.” 

“But…but…how?!” 

“Told you. You were just too stressed.” Lance bragged though the smugness in his tone was laced with obvious relief. “You just needed a bit of relaxation time with your favorite rival right here. Oooh, maybe I can treat you to some of my facial treatment. That always destresses me out!” 

Even if Hunk could see his friends, he could easily imagine the wry expression Keith was probably pulling at Lance’s suggestion. 

“Think I’ll pass.” Keith answered earning a disappointed whine from Lance. “Do…Do you really think that’s what causing all this to start happening again?” 

“Seems like the best bet.” Lance theorized and Hunk could practically hear the shoulder shrug to go along with his friend’s words. “I mean, when it first happened it was on Lotor’s ship and you were back to normal right after we escaped and were out of danger.” 

“Did we do anything that might have triggered it?” Keith asked. 

Lance let out a heavy breath. “Jeez, I’m not sure. After all the excitement of escaping certain death and psycho princes, I was really out of it. I just remember flying down the nearest planet, finding a cave and passing out. You were normal when we woke up.” 

“You passed out on top of me.” 

“….To be fair, you made a great pillow at the time.” Suddenly Lance’s voice perked up with the realization at something. “Hey Keith, how about we try that?” 

“Try what?” Keith asked, sounding a bit puzzled. 

“Let’s sleep together.” 

Hunk almost choked on his own spit. The dark blue mouse almost fell off his shoulder in shock. 

_“What?!”_ Keith’s raised voice literally cracked like a broken violin as the word spilled off his lips. 

It took Lance a tick or two realize what he had just implied with his words and instantly began to sputter and ramble like a fool. “I…uhm…didn’t mean it like that! Jeez, get your head out of the gutter Kogane! I meant like take a nap or something! I know that neither us really slept last night and it’s pretty obvious. you didn’t sleep the night before that either. It’s no wonder you’re as stressed as you right now!” 

Lance’s voice lowers and begins to falter in hesitancy as he continues, “So...what I’m saying is…maybe a long nap will destress you and…um…maybe help?” 

A heavy silence then fell upon the room. Once again, Hunk felt his fingers itch to open the closet door and escape the tension-filled atmosphere but willed himself to wait a bit longer. 

“Okay.” 

Hunk had to stop himself for falling over in surprise at hearing Keith’s calm answer. 

_“Really?”_ Lance echoed, his suddenly squeaky voice echoing Hunk’s own surprised thoughts. 

“Yeah, so move over.” Keith ordered, his voice returning his usual gruffness though Hunk had a feeling that if he peeked out he’d see a lot of redness on Keith’s face as the moment. There was sound of bodies moving around on top of the mattress. Once the rustling settled, Lance spoke. 

“You know you don’t have to nap in my room. We can sneak you back to your room.” The russet-haired paladin suggested, his own voice cracking slightly in obvious embarrassment. Hunk wondered if his friend was regretting this decision. 

“Need you here in case this doesn’t work and someone comes in.” Keith answered in a grumble. 

Lance chuckled nervously at that and Hunk listened to the sound of the mattress shifting slightly. “Guess you have a point. Well in that case here, take my jacket.” 

“….But I already have one?” 

The Blue Paladin let out a scoff at Keith’s blunt observation. “I know that, mullet brain! But your wannabe biker jacket doesn’t have a hood like mine does. Just pull the hood up while you’re asleep so that if anyone comes in, at least your face will be hidden.” 

“That’s….actually a really good idea.” There was no denying the slight awe in Keith’s voice as admitted it. There was the sound of rustling cloth as the jackets were exchanged. 

Hunk heard Lance let out an indignant sniff. “Always with the surprised tone! When will you learn that all my ideas are brilliant?” 

Then earned a huff of quiet laughter from Keith. “Don’t hold your breath on that one McClain.” 

After that, all the sounds settled in a comforting quietness that consisted mostly of soft breathing between companions. After a few minutes of silence, Hunk wondered if the two had fallen asleep, but then heard Lance speak in a low voice. 

“Keith, I’m going to help you figure this whole mess out. You know that right?” There was an earnest resolve in Lance’s voice that Hunk only heard during the heat of a mission. 

“…You really don’t have to do anything, Lance. This is my problem- not anyone else’s.” A tick passed. “…But thank you. I’m still glad you’re helping me out.” 

“Anytime.” 

Silence fell once more and this time no one spoke up again. 

Hunk did not know how long he waited, squished in the closet and surrounded by piles of knitted accessories and colorful mice that were tickling his ears with their thin whiskers. His folded up legs were well asleep at this point and becoming painful but he still remained still and quiet, not daring to move in case his two friends were still awake. Only when the air started to be filled with the sounds of soft snores and quiet, steady breathing did Hunk gather the courage to slide open the closet door. 

The Yellow Paladin timidly peeked through the darkness of the closet and his eyes settled towards Lance’s bed. His gaze immediately fell on Lance, who lying down on his side and facing the outside of the bed. He was sound asleep, snoring softly and mouth slightly open, a bit of drool hanging out. His usual tan jacket was missing. 

Hunk did not have to look far to spy where it was. An arm was casually hanging off Lance’s side, dressed in the familiar sleeves of Lance’s beloved jacket, but the hand that was visible was pale. As Hunk inched himself out of the closet, he could now fully see Keith sleeping besides Lance, close to the wall of the bed and facing Lance’s backside, an arm slung over his sleeping buddy. 

Despite everything Hunk felt his heart melt slightly at the adorable sight. Caution to the wind, he quickly snapped a picture with his phone—he couldn’t let such a blackmail opportunity go to waste. 

He grin widely at the picture but then frowned when he noticed that Keith’s face was mostly hidden away behind the hood of Lance’s jacket- on his chin and the bottom of his cheeks stuck out.His gut twisted as he turned back to look at the sleeping duo. Keith looked absolutely normal right now, but could he be still hiding something behind the hood? 

Despite everything, Hunk felt his fingers twitch in curiosity. The mice on his shoulders, as if sensing where his thoughts were heading, were frantically shaking their heads, but Hunk ignored them. He needed to know what Lance was keeping from him and Keith was keeping from the team… 

The Yellow Paladin took a cautious step forward. 

Keith let out a mumble in his sleep and moved. 

Hunk froze, his heart almost leaping out of his throat. He waited with baited breath as Keith continued shift. Was he waking up? 

Then, to Hunk’s utmost relief, Keith merely tightened his one-arm hold over Lance and pulled the slumbering brunet closer, grunting as he burrowed his face into Lance’s shoulder before going still and peaceful once more. 

Despite the fear still clinging to him, Hunk shaky held up his phone and took another picture. Damn his inability to ignore cuteness. 

However, as soon as the picture was taken, Hunk lowered himself to the ground and started to hastily crawl towards the doorway. He no longer held enough nerve to even dare to try to see watch Keith was hiding at the moment. The last attempt had been too close of a call. Hunk didn’t dare to even breath properly until he was safely through the doorway and the mechanical door had slide shut, successfully separating Hunk from his two teammates. 

Alone in the hallway, Hunk let out a huge, gasping breath and flopped on his belly to the ground, mentally exhausted by the whole experience. The Altean mice slid off his back and stood inches away from his giant head with little concerned expressions on their furry faces. 

Hunk stared down the tall blue one and red one. “You heard all that right?!” He practically screamed in their faces. Hunk then whirled around to scream at the other two. “IT WASN’T JUST ME RIGHT?!” 

All the alien rodents squeaked and nodded their heads in confirmation. 

Hunk raised himself to kneeling position and leaned back against the wall to give a giant sigh of relief. “Oh good, thought I was losing my mind for a bit. I mean, we all agree that their conversation was totally weird right?” 

Again the mice nodded and squeaked. 

“….almost as weird as the fact that I’m having a conversation with a bunch of rainbow colored rodents right now.” 

Once more, the mice nodded in full agreement. Those furry little smartasses. 

Hunk had no time to feel insulted by one inch tall rodents. Hunk realized that his gut, once more, had been right all along. Something weird was going on between his best friend and Keith- something that the two paladins were keeping secret from the rest of the team. 

“What are the two of them hiding?” Hunk wondered out loud. In his mind, he replayed the eavesdropped conversation over and over again, trying to pin point all the words and statements that definitely did not seem to belong. It was tough since the how conversation had seemed out of whack to Hunk who could not see anything beyond the darkness of the closet the entire time. 

“Okay, let’s see…” Hunk raised a hand and started to raise a finger up every time he counted something off. “Keith’s hiding something that nobody but Lance knows about, Lance called him a chinchilla- very weird, but oddly adorable, there’s a weird purple thing going on with Keith…um…let’s see…oh and Lance is actually letting Keith wear his jacket to hide something, and apparently they’re okay with lying in bed together…alone…sleeping and cuddling….” 

Hunk’s voice trailed off as his mind suddenly had a revelation so powerful that it made him stand up and clamp his hands to the sides of his face in shock. He yelled so loud that the mice scampered off in fear. 

“HOLY QUIZNAK! I KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON!” 

The Yellow Paladin blinked and then added in a quieter, but no less urgent voice. 

“I gotta tell Pidge!” 


	7. ...The Green Paladin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk goes to confine in Pidge his latest discovery and the two discuss what to make of it.....

“Lance and Keith did the dirty deed while we were separated in space and are now in a secret romantic relationship and Keith most likely contacted a weird embarrassing alien STD that they’re both keeping secret from the rest of us.”

As soon as the words left Hunk’s mouth, he instantly regretted them. Especially after watching Pidge sprayed half of the alien juice she had been drinking all over the screen of laptop through her nose and the other half she was currently violently choking on.

The short paladin coughed for several minutes before twisted her reddening face around to face Hunk, eyes wide and brimming with a mixture of shock and outrage.

“WHAT THE QUIZNAK DID YOU JUST SAY?!”  She shrieked, her voice reaching a volume of shrill that would probably make a dog go deaf.

Perhaps, Hunk realized sheepishly, he should have been a tad bit more tactful in replaying his discovery.

“Um…” A blush was blooming across Hunk’s dark brown cheeks. “I…um…I think Lance and Keith are secretly dating.  And Keith maybe…um…” the blush grew a deeper shade of red as the hefty paladin forced the rest of the words out. “…might have a caught a weird alien sex disease? “

For several ticks, Hunk watched as Pidge gaped up at him, mouth opening and closing several times, no words able to escape.  A tiny part of Hunk wanted to laugh- it was rare for a sass-master like Pidge to be struck speechless.

Before he could become too concerned, Pidge spoke in a tone hollow of emotion. “I thought that’s what you said.”  The Green paladin closed her eyes and brought a hand up to rub her temples, letting out a small groan. 

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked in concern.

“Just….Just mentally preparing myself for hearing how you found this out.”

Ah, made sense.

A few ticks passed before Pidge let out a calming sigh and straightened her back, lifting her head to look up at Hunk.

“Okay, tell me, why the fuck you think Keith and Lance are dating and that Keith has space herpes.”

 Hunk settled himself down, cross-legged, on the floor across from Pidge and excitedly began to gossip. “Well, I was  hiding in Lance’s closet…”

“STOP.” Pidge held up a hand to halt Hunk and used the other to pinch the bridge of her nose, her brows furrowed in irritation. “Still wasn’t mentally prepared. Give me a few more ticks.”

Hunk pouted but still waited while Pidge took a large, calming breath. As soon as she exhaled, Pidge turned to Hunk, eyes narrowed and eyebrows raised, “Okay, so let’s start with why you were in Lance’s closet to begin with, shall we?”

Realizing that was probably the most logical choice, Hunk agreed and started over with the tale, beginning with explaining how he had helped Coran make some get-well tea and snacks for Lance and Keith. He wisely didn’t mention the earlier conversation between Lance and Shiro that he had listened in on and went on to tell Pidge how the mice had stolen the snacks and how he chased them into Lance’s room and into the closet.

“Oh and did you know that Lance knits? He made all these cute little sweaters and stuff! Wait til you see them- they’re adorable!”  Hunk gushed. He paused and then added, “Though I’m still not sure where he got all the yarn from.”

Pidge shrugged her skinny shoulders. “Probably from one of the rooms around here. Sure there was a storage room for the Castle tailor or something like that.” She waved a hand for Hunk to continue. “Now come on! Let’s get to the juicy stuff already!”

“Oh fine.” Hunk muttered, clucking in disapproval at her impatience.  So he told her how from within the closet, he’d heard Lance and Keith come in.

“And I couldn’t really come out after that. I was afraid Lance and Keith would think I was a snoop.” Hunk firmly insisted, trying to smash any slanderous accusations that might be running through Pidge’s mind.

“You _are_ a snoop, Hunk.” Pidge deadpanned, without the faintest glimmer of sympathy.

Hunk glared at the smaller paladin. “Not by choice this time!” He pouted at the smug smirk on Pidge’s face but decided to be the bigger man and continue on with his story.

Pidge did not speak a single word as Hunk did his best to relate the conversation he has eavesdropped on in Lance’s room. Her sharp green eyes just gazed at him intensely, sinking up every single word and observation, storing and analyzing all the data within the depths of her fast-working mind. Hunk knew that everyone on the Voltron was smart in their own way, but he had no doubt in his mind that Pidge was the most intelligent of them all. If anyone could figure out what Lance and Keith were up to, it was the Green Paladin.

After Hunk had finished repeating everything he could recall from the incident, Pidge took off her glasses and took a moment to clean them with her shirt, probably an excuse to finish gathering her thoughts.

“Sooo, what do you think?” Hunk finally questioned after a few moments of tense silence.

“First off,” Pidge started as she settled her glasses back in place, “I’m telling you right now that you have a privacy problem which you should really work on before you piss off the wrong person.”

Hunk shrunk back a bit at the testy glare the Green Paladin was shooting him. She obviously still very much remembered the diary incident. He was afraid of what she’d say if she knew the full measure of how much eavesdropping Hunk had been doing in the last couple days.

He shuddered at the thought.

“Secondly,” Her expression shifted into a puzzled frown. “I will admit…all that really does sound very strange.” She paused and extended her hand. “Can I see the picture you took of them?”

Hunk gladly handed her his phone and watched her expression soften at the picture on the tiny screen.

“Shit, they’re adorable. Like puppies and kitties sleeping on the same cushion. It’s absolutely sickening.”

Hunk gestured animatedly with his hands. “I know, right!? So do you think they’re secretly dating?” He asked in a loud, conspiring whisper, leaning closer to the short girl. Despite himself, he couldn’t hide the small note of anxiousness in his voice though he wasn’t sure why it was there.

Pidge opened her mouth, but then shut it. She pondered over the question for a moment more before answering, “I don’t really know. They are definitely a lot closer than before- that’s a fact, but…”

“Buuuuut…?” Hunk asked, tilting his head. Pidge set Hunk’s phone down on the floor and twisted her fingers of her hands together and brought them to her face in a thoughtful pose.

“But, even if they were, I don’t think that’s the main issue here.” Pidge finished. Her hazel eyes glinted in the dark room, reflecting the bright lights of the computer screen by her lap. “They’re keeping a secret, one that revolves around Keith and only Keith. The odds are Lance only knows by pure chance because the two of them just happened to find each other first or whatever conspired happened when Lance was present.”

Hunk blinked, thinking back over the conversation and realized that Pidge was absolutely right.  Lance had nothing to hide- it was all Keith.

 She looked Hunk straight in the eye and asked, “How did Keith sound like when he was asking Lance not to tell?”

Hunk though back to the moment when Keith was almost begging Lance to keep quiet. His gut twinged with a pang of guilt at bearing witness to Keith during an obviously distressing moment.

“He…well…he sounded pretty scared to tell the truth.” Hunk admitted, fidgeting a bit. “I’ve never heard him act that way before, not even when we’ve almost blown to bits by aliens. He really doesn’t want any of us to find what his secret. In fact,” Hunk added, his large fists clenching nervously, “He even mentioned wanting to leave the team so no one could find out!”

Pidge pulled back as though struck, her hazel eyes wide with shock. “No way! Keith almost went beserked when I mentioned wanting to leave. He’s the most fired up out of all us when it comes to being a paladin.”  Pidge shook her head grimly. “That just proves it for sure that the two of them dating isn’t what Keith’s hiding. Sure us finding out that he’s secretly dating Lance would be embarrassing and will at least make me question his sanity, but I seriously doubt revealing anything like that would make Keith  so scared he’d leave team.  He’d probably care less about that sort of thing.”

“I guess you’re right.” Hunk admitted, a little surprised by the tiny rush of relief that breezed through him at the small revelation. Perhaps it was the small smile on his face or the relaxation of his shoulders that gave him away since all of the sudden he felt Pidge’s sharp gaze focus on his face. Hunk looked back her with a questioning blink.  “What?”

“Would you be alright if Lance and Keith were really secretly dating?” Pidge asked.

The question caught Hunk completely off guard and for a tick he could only rapidly blink, mouth slightly hanging open in disbelief at Pidge’s blunt and personal question. Her mouth was like a loaded gun sometimes.

 “Why wouldn’t I be? Lance is my best friend-he can date whoever he wants as long as he’s happy.” Hunk at last spluttered out. However, the instant the words left his mouth, a bitter sensation erupted from the pit of his being leaving a sour taste in his throat. The Yellow paladin realized that he perhaps he wasn’t being completely truthful.

“Why are asking me these things?” Hunk abruptly asked, desperate to shake off the ill-feeling settling within his gut. “Didn’t we just establish the fact that those two aren’t really dating and it was just my overactive imagination?”

“We’ve established that a secret relationship isn’t what the secret they’re hiding.” Pidge corrected before she shrugged and spoke in a quiet voice. “And I was just curious. As much as we tease those idiots for arguing like a married couple, I don’t think any of us actually expected it to actually happen.” She rested the side of head against her leaning arm and continued in a thoughtful voice. “But I dunno. With how close they are right now, it just seems more like a possibility. Just kinda weird.”

Hunk bit his lip as he mulled over Pidge’s words. It was truth that everyone, at least him, Pidge, and Shiro would poke fun at Lance’s and Keith’s constant bickering and claim they secretly had crushes on the other, (certainly Keith’s obsession with the cradling incident and Lance’s rivalry obsession did nothing to help with the teasing)  but it was always as a joke. Hunk was sure no one actually believed Keith and Lance would ever get together- Lance was into his womanizing and Keith was too focused on Paladin duties. Plus, it was common knowledge that any dating between teammates would just add a new layer of awkwardness for everyone on the ship, especially when they had to the mind-welding exercise. Hunk shivered at the possibility of looking into someone’s headholes and seeing visions of googly eyes and kissy faces.

But then Hunk remember Lance and Keith cuddling in the bed, how fondly Lance had spoken about Keith during their sleepover, how perfectly Lance and Keith seemed to fight in sync with one another, how they whispered to eachother at meals, heads bent and noses almost touching…….

Yes, perhaps all this new closeness might stem from the secret they were hiding from everyone else, but the affectionate gestures and determined lengths of how far Lance was willing to go protect Keith’s secret seemed to hint to something more no matter how which way Hunk looked at it.

And Hunk wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

The Yellow Paladin heard Pidge start to speak again. “I mean, maybe them having feelings for eachother might be how the two bond synchronized?”

At the mention of the bond synchronization, something hot and ugly bubbled within Hunk’s chest- the same feeling from this morning, but doubled in intensity.

“I’m sure if I were there, me and Lance would have did the bond thing too!” Hunk snapped with a glare, his tone coming out a lot harsher than expected and Pidge flinched back, her copper eyes round with shock and hurt.

Hunk immediately felt terrible, the boiling emotion shriveling instantly to be replaced by shame at his actions. “I’m sorry Pidge. I- I didn’t mean to snap.” Hunk apologized.

He rubbed the back of his head and admitted in a small voice, “Guess I’m just a bit upset that Lance did something cool with Keith instead of me.”

 _And that Keith seems to be all Lance is focused on now._ Hunk thought but did not dare speak out loud.

“Hunk, you’re Lance best friend.” Pidge assured, reaching over to pat Hunk’s bicep, her expression softening. “No one, not even Keith, can take that from you. I’m sure when the time comes, you and Lance will be kicking ass together too. You know Lance better than anyone and he trusts you more than anyone else.”

 _Not enough to tell me what’s going on apparently._ Hunk thought bitterly. He shook his head, trying to push the terrible thoughts away for the time being.

“Okay, so back on our previous topic,” Hunk said, clearing his throat in an attempt to distract himself. “If them dating isn’t the secret, then what do you think is?”

If Pidge could tell that Hunk was still uncomfortable, she tactfully kept quiet about it and moved on to the subject with no argument.

 “Well, what concerns me the most is the fact that Keith seems to be showing symptoms of something—which I doubt would be space herpes.” Pidge said. Her eyes were narrowed and her busy brows were scrunched up in concentration. “You mentioned something ‘purple’…”

“Maybe he has an embarrassing rash that won’t go away?” Hunk suggested, recalling a rather nasty childhood memory involving poison ivy. “Maybe he’s allergic to something?”

“Or a parasite of some kind.” Pidge added darkly. “Who knows what any of have accidentally been infected with while hopping from planet to planet?”

Hunk didn’t bother to hide a shudder of horror at the thought. “Then don’t you think we should make them tell Coran and Allura so he can be treated? What if it’s contagious? I don’t want to be infected!”

Pidge wrinkled her nose in at Hunk’s dramatics. “I doubt you’ll be infected with anything. Look, maybe he is infected with something, but even a sickness or infection wouldn’t really be too big of a deal. Keith knows that the healing pods can probably fix whatever he has. Being sick isn’t something a person keeps a big secret about or tries to run away for.”

A vivid detail suddenly recalled itself into Hunk’s mind. “Oh, Keith mentioned a Thace guy! I…I think Thace wanted Keith to go with him back when he and Lance were separated. Keith doesn’t like him though.”

“Thace, huh?” Pidge repeated the name, but from the frustrated look on her face, Hunk didn’t think the name didn’t ring any bells. “Wonder what kind of alien he is? An outlaw maybe?”

“Outlaw?” Hunk echoed, dread seeping into his voice. A cold, frightening thought suddenly gripped him.

“Pidge…” Hunk began, his voice lowering to a quiet whisper. “Do…do you think Keith did something really bad? Like maybe robbing someone or maybe…or maybe he…” Hunk could even say the words and from the horrified look on Pidge’s face, he knew there was no need to.

The guessing game was no longer any fun.

When Pidge remained silent, Hunk gulped and continued to speak, “Look, if Keith did something so bad that he’s too scared to tell anyone and wants to run away, maybe we should tell…”

“No.”

Hunk blinked in surprise. He wasn’t expecting that sudden of a response.

“But…but…shouldn’t Shiro or Allura or even Coran know if something’s wrong? Or if Keith did something dangerous or he—“

“We don’t know if Keith did anything at all!” Pidge interrupted her voice sharp and eyes narrowed in challenge. “Even if he did, it would not explain the weird symptoms at all. You and I are literally just grasping at straws here.”

“So what? We do nothing!?” Hunk asked loudly in exasperation.

“Yes, because this is Keith’s secret.” Pidge answered in a tone firm and absolute. “If he wants Shiro or anyone to know then he’d have told him by know. If he only wants Lance to know, then fine. Obviously that loudmouth is better at keeping his mouth shut than I ever pegged him for.”

“But Lance wants to tell! I know it, but Keith won’t let him!” Hunk argued back heatedly.

Pidge tilted her head at Hunk, eyes slightly narrowed. “Does it seem like Keith threatened Lance to keep his mouth shut?”

Hunk blinked in abashment. “No…I guess not.”

“Then trust Lance’s judgement here.” Pidge said with a hint of frustration edging its way to her voice. “I know he’s an idiot sometimes, but Lance always keeps his head when it really matters. You’re his best friend, Hunk- you know if he knew something that was dangerous to the team, he wouldn’t keep quiet about it.”

Hunk felt chided by her words and horribly guilty for feeling so much doubt in his friend’s judgement, but he couldn’t help but argue, “But Pidge, you know big secrets aren’t good for Voltron.” It was one of the first lessons they were taught when trained after all.

Pidge focused her gaze at Hunk, and the Yellow Paladin saw her hazel eyes blaze with a vicious, passionate fire.

“So far, Keith and Lance are doing nothing that hurts the team. Keith will tell us and everyone else the truth whenever he’s ready and not before.  You and I will not be the ones to force it out of him before that- Got it?”

A part of Hunk wanted to argue how neither of them knew for a fact that Keith’s secret couldn’t hurt the team, but as he stared at the Green Paladin who was glaring fearlessly up at the taller teen, her shoulders set as if ready for a fight and her expression one of pure resolve and determination, and he slowly realized why Pidge was so dead-set about leaving Keith and Lance be.

Not too long ago, Pidge had fought arm and limb to keep her own secret about her identity and mission tucked away from everyone around her, even amongst her closest friends. She alone probably understood what was going though Keith and Lance’s head right now.

Hunk thought back to the raw and emotional words exchanged between the Blue and Red Paladin and then to the memory of Pidge revealing herself as Katie for the first time. He wondered if Keith would ever feel comfortable enough reveal his secrets to the rest of them?

Or were some secrets too harmful to be let loose?

His gut twisted and churned in agonizing flares, but he shoved his bitter suspicions down and forced himself to give Pidge a solid nod.

 “Got it.”


	8. ...The Spar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk's suspicions and frustrations continue to grow and a spar between rivals brings up some new developments....

The next few days Hunk honestly did try his best to stick to Pidge’s advice and ignore his suspicions and speculations about the secret Keith and Lance were hiding. He tried to act as though he hadn’t eavesdropped on all Lance’s secret conversations and pretend he was perfectly happy with Lance now spending all his free time glued to Keith’s side like a barnacle to a ship, not bothering to hang out in the common room with him or anyone else. No more private sleepovers. No secret late night goo trips between leg buddies.

All things considered, Hunk thought he was doing an good job at pretending everything was normal and  perfectly fine. Just like before. No secrets. No possible blossoming relationship between his best friend and someone with possibly dangerous secret.

Nope, everything was fine.

 _Peachy_ even.

“Hunk, stop glaring at your food. Coran’s going to get offended and make something even grosser tomorrow night.”

Hunk looked from the bowl of yellow gunk with odd red spheres dotting its slimy surface to see Pidge staring testily at him from across the table. The Yellow Paladin had a sneaking suspicion she knew the thoughts floating around in his head right now. He followed as her sharp gaze briefly flickered down the table to where Lance and Keith were seated next to each other.

The two rivals seemed to be in a jovial mood with Lance talking animatedly while Keith nodded at every other word, a small grin always on his lips. Keith had on Lance’s jacket- he had been wearing it every day since the morning Hunk had eavesdropped on them from Lance’s closet. Of course, everyone else (except Hunk and Pidge) had been surprised to see Keith in Lance’s beloved jacket and even more to see Lance okay with it.

“Meh, Keith was cold and his stupid jacket wasn’t any help.” Lance explained in a nonchalant manner, looking as if he could care less on the matter.

 “My jacket isn’t stupid! It’s vintage!” Keith had shot back, clearly offended. Didn’t stop him from burying his hands inside Lance’s jacket pockets.

“It doesn’t even cover half of you! Did you steal it from a ten year old?”

The bickering had just escalated from there and after a few minutes everyone’s shock had worn down. After three days of seeing Keith continue to wear the light green jacket, no one batted an eye anymore. Only Hunk and Pidge know the real reason Lance was letting Keith wear it.

Keith must have made a teasing remark to one of Lance’s comments. Hunk watched the two laugh light-heartedly together looking as though they were in their own little, happy micro-orbit.

A sharp bitter taste erupted inside Hunk’s mouth, making his lips curl in a twisted grimace at the scene. Suddenly he felt a rough kick to his leg, followed by sharp pain. He bit back a grunt of surprise and whirled around to see Pidge glaring.

“ _Hunk_.” There was a warning tone in her voice. “Stop being paranoid.”

Hunk gave the entire a table a quick lookaround to see if anyone had noticed-  Lance and Keith weren’t paying attention and one quick glance down the length of the table told him that Shiro, Allura, and Coran were having their own private discussions.  Hunk turned back to Pidge.

“How is no one suspicious at all?” He hissed quietly in an incredible tone, gesturing an arm wildly towards jacket-stealing Keith. “That jacket belonged to Lance’s favorite uncle! He doesn’t let anyone wear it!”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “As if Shiro and the royal duo know that! Come on Hunk, to the blissfully innocent this whole scene just looks like the gesture of a budding romance about to come to full bloom.” The bespectacled girl batted her eyelashes for emphasis. She cocked her head towards the older members of team Voltron down the table. “See, take a look.”

Hunk glanced back over towards Shiro, Allura, and Coran at their seats at the end of the table and watched them. Though they were all still talking quietly to one another, every couple seconds Hunk could spy Allura taking a quick peek over toward Lance and Keith, a mischievous grin on her face and her large eyes sparkling with interest. Coran would eye the pair with an uncle-like fondness, stroking his mustache and Shiro...well….

Their leader looked a bit flustered to be honest. Any time Shiro looked in Keith and Lance’s direction, he quickly turn back with a faint blush and an lost expression on his face as if seeing the Red and Blue paladin acting --for a lack of better term— _couple-like_ had taken their valiant leader completely by surprise and now he had no idea what make of this bizarre situation.

Perhaps Shiro was wondering whether or not as head of Voltron he should give them The Talk.

Hunk felt a stab of pity for the Black Paladin, cursed to be the Team Adult.

“It’s really quite an ingenious tactic if you think about it.” Pidge said, pulling Hunk out of his speculation of Shiro’s inner torment. “Distract the entire ship with the drama of a faux romance to keep any suspicions of their real secret at bay. If Lance is actually acting lovey-dovey on purpose, I’ll have to applaud him for such a devious strategy.”

“So you think he’s actually all buddy-buddy with Keith as an act.” Hunk asked, a flare of hope rising.

Pidge licked last blob of food gunk from her spoon. “Nah. Lance is a sucky actor. The guy wears his heart on his sleeve.”

Hunk couldn’t help but pout at her words and glared down at his food again. The bowl was still half full but Hunk hardly seemed to have much of an appetite. He heard Lance chuckle at something Keith said. Hunk shut his eyes to the noise.

“Hunk.”

Hunk glanced back up at Pidge. She shot him a small, reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry. Keith just needs Lance a little bit more than you and I do right now. Everything will go back to normal soon.”

Hunk smiled back at the Green Paladin and tried to let her words sooth his worries and irrational resentment.

Lance and Keith shared another quiet laugh between each other, heads bent over, foreheads almost touching and identical smiles gracing their faces.

Hunk wasn’t able to finish his bowl.

\------

Later in the mid-afternoon was when combat training began for the paladins. Allura had been unusually lax for the past several days in the paladin’s training regimen; most likely she wanted to make sure everyone, particularly Lance and Keith, were recovered from any ailments and well rested before serious training could begin once more. With Coran and Shiro’s assurances that all of the paladins were in fighting shape, Allura was dead set on overseeing that combat training went back to full swing.  

She and Coran watched from the sidelines with calculating eyes as the paladins paired themselves off to being some solo one-on-one fights between on another. Allura always preferred them working with the gladiators as she felt they posed a greater threat, however Shiro assured her that fighting between a fresh and body opponent that was free thinking and more unpredictable was a valuable lesson for any warrior in training. Though Hunk had the sneaking suspicion that Allura had also been swayed by the opportunity to see if any of the paired partners could be able to synchronized their bonds such as Keith and Lance had supposedly done days before. It would explain why she was staring at them all like a cat eyeing pieces of prey and wondering which two would taste the best together.

Before the Wormhole Separation, Hunk had usually paired up with Lance or Pidge during practice combat sessions since Keith usually preferred to spar with Shiro. Of course there were a couple of times that Lance goaded Keith into a match for the sake of their rivalry, but Keith never looked very willing.

Of course that all had to change, much to Hunk’s growing frustration.

Almost immediately after Coran had given them all the usual pep talk and let them loose to pair up, Keith had wordlessly strolled up to Lance and planted himself across from the Blue Paladin, legs bent and arms already up in fighting stance.

Lance looked surprised for only a tick before grinning broadly. “So eager to get your butt kicked, Mullet?”

Keith let out an unimpressed scoff. “We’ll see who’s butt hits the ground first.” Despite the biting words, a playful smirk graced the raven-haired paladin’s face.

Hunk took a few steps towards them, called out. “Hey Lance, wanna spar?”

Both Keith and Lance turned as one to face Hunk. Hunk hated that their identical reaction caused a spike of annoyance to go through him. He forced himself to smile brightly at them.

 Keith’s confident expression immediately faltered into one of nervousness. Lance glanced between Keith and Hunk, his expression looking torn.

“Umm, how about the next round, Hunk?” Lance finally said, giving Hunk a guilty look, his smile small and sheepish.

Hunk felt a flare of jealousy burst within his gut, but pushed the poisonous feeling down to reply in a light tone back to his friend. “Um, sure okay.”

The Yellow Paladin felt a warm, firm hand grip his shoulder. He turned to find Shiro smiling kindly at him. “Let those two tear each other apart. How about you spare with Pidge? Remember, Allura said the Yellow and Green paladins have the easiest time synchronizing their bonds together—let’s try and test that theory.”

As if on cue, Pidge rushed to his side and gripped his large hand within her much smaller ones to drag him off. “Come on, let’s see if we can outdo those idiots.” She chirped in a cheerful and overly loud voice. Lance heard her and childishly stuck his tongue out at the green gremlin.

Hunk knew Pidge was trying to make him feel better and was grateful for the gesture. Shiro, being the odd man out, paired up Allura and within minutes the sounds of kicks, punching, grunting, growling, and yelps filled the training room.

Hunk saw Lance and Keith slink off to spar a good distance from everyone else, but had to push his suspicions and curiosity aside to focus on avoiding being stung by Pidge’s bayard. Despite the Green Paladin’s much smaller size, she was much quicker than everyone else and attacked like an angry wasp. It took most of Hunk’s concentration to keep his shield up and try to aim a kick or punch her way. His own bayard, with its huge size, was useless at such close comeback.

The sparring continued for several minutes and thought Hunk did not really feel any of ‘sychronized bonding’ Allura and Coran had talked about, Hunk was starting to feel pleased with himself. He had managed to knock Pidge down a few times. Plus focusing his attention on sparring completely made him forget about Lance and Keith for the time being.

That is, until a very Lance-like wail of pain filled the air.

Hunk whirled around so quickly that Pidge, who had jumped forward in attempt to stab him with her bayard, fell to the ground with a yelp of surprise. He ignored his sparring partner to stare with wide eyes at where Lance was laying on the ground, eyes squeezed shut and clutching his arm in pain.

“LANCE!” Hunk cried out in panic and rushed over, the rest of the team right behind him.

By the time Hunk had sped over, Lance had managed to sit up, but was clutching him right arm, face looking pale and ashen with pain Keith was standing over him, violet-grey eyes wide and a look of horror stretched upon his face. His hands were stretched towards Lance, but not touching as if the Red Paladin wasn’t sure what to do.

Hunk immediately knelt down besides his best friend, gently laying a gentle palm on Lance’s back, trying to comfort him. “Don’t worry, Lance. We can fix this.”

Not able to help himself, Hunk looked up to send Keith a scathing glare. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” The Yellow Paladin demanded angrily.

Keith looked beyond shocked- never had he been on the receiving end of Hunk’s rage before. His mouth fell open slightly but no words seemed able to come out.

Hunk clenched his teeth and opened his mouth to demand an answer, but Shiro’s sharp voice cut him off.

“Hunk, enough!” Shiro knelt down on Lance’s other side and, having sending Hunk a quick warning look, turned his attention to Lance, his dark gaze softening. “Can I see your arm, Lance?”

Lance only clutched the appendage closer to his chest. From his angle, Hunk could see the white armor of the forearm was cracked and the whole area was terrible swollen. Hunk was positive that underneath the black undersuit the skin would probably be red and tender.

“It’s fine!” Lance cried out, despite the fact his arm was was absolutely not fine at all and probably felt like there were fire ants crawling beneath his skin. “I probably just landed on it wrong when Keith knocked me down. No biggie!”

“I-I-I’m sorry! I really didn’t mean too, I swear!” Keith finally managed to spit out, looking almost more distressed than Lance did. A part of Hunk felt a bit guilty for yelling at him.

“We know you didn’t.” Allura soothingly assured Keith, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, accidents happen, especially when it comes to Lance.” Pidge piped up. She shot Hunk a testy look. “Right Hunk?”

Hunk mumbled something that might have vaguely resembled, _“Yeah sure.”_

Forgive him for feeling a bit petty that his best friend was just got injured by someone carrying around a potentially dangerous secret. But no, no, by all means, everyone go ahead and be on Keith’s side. Hunk didn’t care. Not one bit.

“Lance, please let me see your arm.” Shiro asked once more, this time in a firmer, no-nonsense voice.

Lance reluctantly extended his arm towards his leader, a whimper of pain escaping against his will. Both Shiro and Coran leaned in close to examine the damage.

“Does this hurt, dear boy?” Coran asked poking at the swollen muscle.

“AAAAH, QUIZNAK YES! DAMN IT CORAN!”

“Definitely a broken bone.” Coran announced brightly, ignoring the disapproving glare Shiro was shooting him. “Don’t worry, just an hour or two in the healing pod and you’ll be as right as an Anooba!” The advisor stroked his ginger mustache in a thoughtful manner, “Though I’m quite curious why your armor did not protect you- usually it can resist most hard falls, especially against light sparring.”

Hunk saw Keith and Lance shoot each other panicked looks. 

“Well…these suits are having been used for ten thousand years. Maybe they need touch ups?” Lance suggested in a hesitant voice.

Coran’s expression brightened. “Excellent idea Lance! Everyone, once training is done, please give your suits to me so I can do a quick diagnostics scan. We’ll see if we can knock out any little defects and give the armor a bit more aptitude!”

“I can help with that.” Pidge said, eyes gleaming at the chance to make upgrades to their armor.

“Before all that, how about we get you to the healing pod?” Shiro suggested, looking down at Lance.

Lance mutely nodded, shakily rising to his feet. He shot Keith a quick, purposeful glance. “Mind helping me to the pod, Keith?”

Keith quickly nodded and made his way to Lance’s side. Hunk purposely blocked the Red Paladin’s path. “How about I help you, Lance?” Hunk asked.

“No, no! You don’t have to Hunk. Keith can take me!” Lance insisted, shooting Hunk what seemed like a reassuring smile, but came out as a pain-filled grimace. He slung his good arm across Keith’s shoulder and allowed the Red Paladin to lead him away. “You know the saying, you break it then you have to bring it to the infirmary!”

“You completely butchered that saying, Lance.” Pidge retorted.

“Pidge shush.” Shiro chided in his Space Dad tone.

“But Lance…” Hunk tried to argue, but Keith and Lance were already halfway across the training room and able to go through the exit.

“Lance probably wants to make sure Keith doesn’t feel guilty about the accident.” Said Shiro, seeing the dejected look on Hunk’s face.

However, Hunk was not going to be brushed off this time- he had seen the panicked look Keith and Lance had shared. All this had something to do with the secret. Eyes narrowed in suspicion and jaw set in determination, Hunk began to make his way after them.

“I’m going to see if they need help.” Hunk called out to the rest of the team before exiting.

Luckily, due to Lance’s injury, both he and Keith were moving slowly down the hallway towards the infirmary. It did not take long for Hunk to catch up to them. However, instead of announcing his presence, Hunk quietly hung back a ways away, listening as Keith and Lance spoke quietly to each other.

“Did you know you could do that?” Lance asked his raven haired comrade.

Hunk saw Keith shake his head. “No…not at all. I mean, not when I’m not looking like a…um…you know. Do I look okay right now?”

Lance gave Keith’s  face a long look and shook his head. “Yeah, thank goodness. Glad you’re finally getting some control over that issue.”

“Just so a new one can take its place. Great.” Keith replied, sounding grumble and miserable.

“It’s okay.” Lance assured him, wincing slightly when Keith accidentally brushed his swollen forearm. “How about we do some late night practice sparring sessions? See if we can try and do a bit of damage control so that this won’t happen again?”

“What if I accidentally hurt you?”

“That’s what healing pods are for.”

“It’ll be suspicious if you keep getting hurt!”

“Then focus on **_not_ ** getting me hurt! That’s the entire point! We gotta learn to keep your new freaky strength in check and secret sparring sessions are the only way to go. They might think it’s the suits’ fault this time, but it’ll be hard to explain if it happens again.”

Hunk heard Keith let out a frustrated sigh. “I hate it when you make a point.” The Red Paladin shot Lance a pointed look. “You know, you don’t have to be the one to practice with me- I can always use the gladiator.”

Lance bumped his shoulder to Keith’s. “It wouldn’t the same- the Gladiator can’t really feel pain so it can’t tell you if you’re striking too hard.  Don’t worry, I can handle whatever you can dish out. I’m here to help you.”

Hunk wasn’t able to hear the rest of the conversation. The two had made it to the infirmary entrance and slipped inside, the door sliding shut behind them. Hunk stared hard at the metal door’s surface, not willing to go forward but unable to force himself to head back to train with the others. To go back and act as though everything was alright when clearly it wasn’t.

No, nothing was alright at all- not when Lance was willing to be a living, breathing sparring dummy to help out whatever stupid secret Keith was keeping.

“Who’s going to be the one to help you out, Lance?” Hunk asked to the empty hallway.

Only silence answered back.

\--------

The next morning, Hunk saw Lance sporting a swollen black eye at the breakfast table. 

At everyone’s concerned looks, Lance laughed and assured everyone that he accidentally fell out of bed and hit himself on the dresser.

Keith look away shame-faced and guilty.

Hunk did not even notice the bowl in his hands slowly being cracked and crunched into bits and pieces within his vice-strong, rage-driven grasp.


	9. ...The Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotions run high within the Yellow Paladin and when Voltron fails to form, Hunk takes it within his own hands to talk with Lance to fix things. Nothing goes well at all.

It had been a few more days since the arm-breaking incident. Since Lance and Keith started to have their little secret sparring sessions in the dead of night. Since Lance started revealing telltale bruises in the mornings which he’d laugh it off with Keith and everyone else while Hunk silently simmered with anger, not daring to point out that Keith always seemed to come out unscathed. Since Hunk took it upon himself to sneak into the infirmary each morning to go through the healing pod database to see how many times it might have been used during the nights and for what injuries. Hunk had seen one night where it had been used for a broken wrist and dislocated shoulder.

Hunk may or may not have offered to spar with Keith that day and may or may not have punched him in the gut by accident. Or not. It’s hard to tell with practice sessions after all.

But today training was going to go a bit different. Both Allura and Shiro had come to the agreement that it was time to do some actual training with Voltron. Before they had all done some training with flying with their individual lions, it was now a good time to get back into the swing of things and start doing combat training the ultimate weapon itself.

It started out wonderfully, at least Hunk thought so. Even though being a pilot had never really been a part of Hunk’s goals in life, with dear Yellow everything felt natural. There was a warmth to Yellow that always calmed him down and helped eased the fears and anxieties that often plagued his over-cautious mind. With her, Hunk could soar through the skies and not even feel a twinge of the nausea that he usually felt when flying with Lance or Keith.

From the side visors, Hunk could see the Blue Lion gliding to his starport side, the sunlight glimmering off her dark-blue metal hide. He knew that further away, past the Black and Green Lion, there would be the smaller Red Lion. Inside her would be Keith.

Hunk wondered if the Red Lion could sense the secret that Keith was hiding? The Yellow Paladin figured that a mystical mind-reading robot lion probably would. Would the Red Lion ever reject Keith for hiding something really big from his teammates. Or did the Lions not care at all?

“Well, the Black Lion did choose Zarkon at one point so there’s that.” Hunk muttered to himself. He felt a rippling vibration go through the cockpit as well as the sensation that he was being gently chided. Yellow must not approve of him thinking badly of her fellow sisters.

“Sorry Yellow.” Hunk apologized sincerely. He couldn’t keep a smile off his face as a pleasant warmth filled the air followed by a gentle purr…

 _“Hunk everything good on your end?”_ Shiro’s voice rang out.

“Um, yeah! Yellow is doing fine!” Hunk answered.

 _“Good to hear. Okay guys I know it’s been a while since we last did this, but I have no doubts we can get Voltron going again.”_ Hunk could hear the encouraging smile in Shiro’s voice.

Lance’s voice crackled in. _“We totally got this Shiro! This leg’s ready to be stretched out again!”_

 _“Don’t pull a muscle now.”_ Pidge teased. _“Don’t want Voltron getting a Charley Horse.”_

_“Keith, when we form Voltron go slap the left hand really hard will ya?”_

_“Yeah…sure.”_ Keith’s voice was not as enthusiastic as everyone else’s. It was low and sullen, with an almost nervous tremble behind it.

Hunk couldn’t stop the suspicion that bubbled up. However, he had no time to dwell on it before Shiro called out,

_“FORM VOLTRON!”_

At once, all five lions skyrocketed into the air, leaving a trail of color within their wake as mystical glow took over. Within the Yellow Lion, Hunk welcomed the familiar golden hue that filled with his vision and the gentle pressure of his teams’ bond within the back of his mind, always there but now amplifying to greater heights now that Voltron was forming.

As the Yellow Lion began to shift and change its shape along with the rest of its pride, Hunk felt his connection with own team start to flare to life. It was a spectrum of colored emotions and feelings- all different but all eventually melding and pulsing together as one for a singular, battle-driven goal. Usually he could feel the crackling of Lance’s awed excitement, the flare of Keith’s passion and fury, the calming determination and focus of Shiro, and the flicker of Pidge’s curiosity all combining with Hunk’s own anxious, but determined emotions.

It today something went wrong.

Hunk could still feel the pressure and buzzing of his other teammate’s emotions, but his own feelings- his worries, anxiety, and suspicions- seemed to flare up a bit more brighter if for only a moment.

But that was all it took.

Almost as soon as Hunk managed to quell his own emotions, he- and everyone else- was instantly bombarded by flashes of negativity from the shared minds of his companions.

_Shock._

_Worry._

_Fear._

_Fear._

_Fear._

_FEAR._

**_FEAR._ **

There was a flash and instantly the lions were disbanded, all hovering in midair while their pilots wallowed in confusion at what had just taken place, their minds still buzzing from their connections   breaking so sudden and violently.

They were not able to form Voltron that day.

\-----------------

 

Allura assured them to not take to heart what happened. It was not unexpected that something like this might concur after they had all been separated for so long.  They would just have to rest and try again the next day. Shiro gave them all a bit of his own heart to heart, trying to raise the younger paladins’ spirits after such a disappointing training session. However, it was hard to feel assured when even Shiro seemed unnerved and perplexed about what had taken place.

Hunk saw that Keith and Lance were standing side by side a little bit away from the others. Both looked disheartened by the turn of events. While listening to Shiro, Hunk occasional glanced over and saw Lance place a hand on Keith’s shoulder and give it a comforting squeeze.

Though it wasn’t really possible to pinpoint exactly where each emotion from their bond came from, Hunk knew for certain that the waves of fear must have come from Keith. Or Lance. Or probably both. Maybe the fear had been influenced by the feelings of anxiety and suspicion that Hunk had been emoting?

Hunk felt a bit of comfort knowing that Lance and Keith didn’t know it was from him.

The Yellow Paladin saw Pidge sending him the stink eye. Of course Pidge would know. Damn her observation skills.

Hunk held in a sigh. This was going too far. If Voltron couldn’t be formed then something had to change. If Pidge wasn’t going to take action then Hunk would have to be the one to get things going forward.

He needed to talk to Lance.

“Let’s hit the showers for today.” Shiro said, dismissing the younger paladins with a small smile. “Try to relax and tomorrow we’ll try again.”

With at the Shiro exited the control room, probably to go speak with Allura and Coran about the Voltron trouble and come up with a game plan for tomorrow’s training. Hunk watched Pidge trudge off towards the exit as well, probably to head to her work room. Keith shot off in a hurry right afterwards, not even sparing Lance a glance.

Hunk saw Lance give Keith’s retreating figure a worried look, before making  his way towards his usual post training shower.

Hunk took a deep breath to brace himself before following after him.

The giant, dark-haired paladin finally caught up to his friend in the middle of the empty corridor.

“Lance we need to talk.”

Lance continued walking forwards, but waved a hand of acknowledgement towards Hunk. “Can it wait until after I hit the showers?  You know how much I hate how my hair feels after training. All that sweat collects in those helmets, ya’know. Not good at all for haircare like me tell yo—”

Hunk placed himself in front of Lance’s path, strong and unyielding. “No it can’t wait.”

Lance paused and gave Hunk a quick up and down glance. Hunk saw a flash of nervousness flash in his expression for a single tick before the russet-haired boy flashed Hunk a playful grin.

“Hey come on buddy! Why the serious face? I know training didn’t go too good, but I’m sure it’ll go better next time. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Lance walked around Hunk and continued his way to towards the showers.

Hunk couldn’t take it anymore.

“I KNOW YOU AND KEITH ARE HIDING SOMETHING!”

Lance stopped dead in his tracks.

Hunk quickly lowered his voice and continued. “Um…well, I know Keith is. And I know you’re in on it. Whatever it is.”

Lance turned around bearing a big, goofy grin.

“ _Me_? Hiding a secret with _Keith_? Haha, that’s a good one, Hunk! As if I would be able to keep anything from you, buddy! You can read me like a book!”

Hunk frowned. “Stop lying to me Lance!”

“I’m not lying! As if my _archrival_ would even tell me a supposedly _dark secret_!” Lance put on a goofy voice and waved his hands around in a ridiculous manner to emphasis the words ‘dark secret’.

Hunk narrowed his dark eyes to glower angrily at his friend, furious that he was making a mockery over such a big issue.

“I heard you two talking a couple days ago.” Hunk finally admitted, knowing it was the only way. “In your room.”

The grin immediately fell from Lance’s lips.

 “I…um…I was in the closet.” Hunk added, gulping nervously. “So…um…sorry about that.”

Lance’s expression darkened. “What….WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM! IN MY CLOSET?!”His blue eyes widened. _“DID YOU SEE THE SWEATERS?!_ ”

“IT’S A LONG STORY! AND YES I SAW THE SWEATERS! THEY WERE LOVELY!” Hunk bellowed back in frustration. As mad as he was, the quality and craft of the  homemade sweaters deserved to be praised.

“THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!” Lance shrieked angrily.

“HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHEN IT’S CHRISTMAS?!”

“ _WHEN IT GETS COLD_!”

“ ** _IT’S ALWAYS COLD IN SPACE!_** ”

“WHATEVER!” Lance growled and stomped towards Hunk, eyes narrowed accusingly. “You had NO business AT ALL spying on me and Keith! That was private! How much did you hear?”

“Enough to know that you two have been hiding something big ever since we got back to the Castle!”

“....Nothing specific though?” Lance’s voice was warily hopeful. 

“No,” Hunk reluctantly answered, annoyance spiking at the relief that flushed Lance’s expression, “But I know it’s enough for Keith to want to run away! And I know it’s causing you to get hurt every night!”

“We’re just doing some extra sparing sessions!” Lance argued. “You know, being better paladins and all that! And you act like I’m the only one getting hurt here! I totally kicked Keith’s ass last night! He probably has like fifty bruises right now! Just…um…under his shirt or something.”

“Does he ever get his wrist broken? Oh a shoulder dislocated?” Hunk demanded, recalling all the data of injuries listed in the healing pod database.

Hunk’s revelation of such knowledge made Lance pause in surprise. The Blue Paladin had the decency to look a bit guilty, angling his face to stare at the ground, the cinnamon skin of his cheeks flushing a light pink.

“So our sessions get a bit rough- big whoop.” Lance grumbled, scuffing his sneakers on the floor, purposely avoiding Hunk’s scathing gaze. “Keith doesn’t know his own strength is all. ‘Sides better in the long run, you know. Gal—” Lance faltered with an odd choking sound before quickly continuing, “I mean…um…other aliens are stronger than us. Have to learn to deal with it.”

Before Hunk could comment about how ‘ _yes, it’s good to be prepared for fighting stronger aliens, but that doesn’t mean it’s alright for your own teammate to use  you as a literal punching bag every night’_ , Lance glanced back up to give Hunk an accusing look.

“And how do you know about any of that!?” Lance demanded. There was tick of a pause before Lance narrowed his blue eyes into suspicious, slits, gazing at Hunk’s face with such intensity that Hunk felt like his mind was being probed.. “Have you been spying on me this whole time?”

“NO!”  Hunk answered, perhaps a bit took quickly, his dark eyes flickering side to side. Quiznak. He messed up.

Lance continued to silently stare, brow furrowing and his mouth set in a scowling frown.

He almost looked Keith-like. Hunk almost felt oddly impressed.

 At last, Hunk couldn’t take the stare down anymore, especially since Lance seemed to had somehow learned the secret to perfecting Keith’s death glare.

Hunk sighed, “Okay, I…well…I may have listened in to one or two conversations that you may or may not have been a part of that I was not. And might have followed you around a bit. And looked into the healing pod database.”

Lance’s glare just grew stronger and stronger with each word out of Hunk’s mouth. Hunk worried that the Blue Paladin might have surpassed Keith’s own in intensity and fury.

“But it was all good intentions!” Hunk pointed out to defend himself and his actions. “I saw that something was bothering you and…it…umm…kinda escalated from there.”  Seeing that none of his excuses were helping matters, Hunk let out another deep sigh, one tinged with frustration and said, “Look, just tell me what’s up with you and Keith so that we can get all fixed up.”

Lance opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it and glanced away, facing the wall.

“I can’t.” he answered quietly.

Hunk’s dark eyes  narrowed. “Can’t or won’t?”

 “What difference does it make?” Lance snapped, glaring up the Yellow Paladin. “It’s none of your business so just drop it! What’s your problem anyway?”

“My problem is that you’re keeping secrets from the team! It’s like Allura told us before, we shouldn’t be keeping secrets. You saw practice today! We couldn’t form Voltron!”

“How do you know it was me and Keith that did that? Ever think it could be YOU!” Lance snapped back. “You and your…your….suspiciousness!”

A part of Hunk knew that what Lance said might be true, but Hunk would rather bite off his tongue rather to admit that to Lance. Hunk’s next words came out through frustrated clenched teeth.

“Regardless, that only proves my point. Whatever’s affecting one person is affecting everyone. Keith is part of Voltron. You are part of Voltron, I’m a part of Voltron! We’re all Voltron!”

“I know that!” Lance snapped, “But right now Voltron would be better off with Keith keeping his secret how it is.” The brown-skinned paladin shot Hunk a desperate look. “Why can’t you trust me on this?”

“I’m just trying to protect you because- newsflash- you don’t really have the best track record in decision making!” Hunk countered. “Does the name Nyma ring a bell?”

“I don’t need you to protect me!” Lance snapped, blue eyes flashing angrily. Perhaps mentioning Nyma was a low blow. “Besides, in case you’ve forgotten…KEITH ISN’T NYMA! He’s our friend and I trust him, so why can’t you?!”

 “Because he’s keeping secrets and now he’s making you keep secrets as well! From Shiro… from Allura…from the entire team… _FROM ME_!”

Hunk didn’t mean for the last words to be swung out, but they were. Red hot embarrassment swept through him like a wave making him want to dash from the corridor as fast as he could. But pride made him stay rooted in spot, chest heaving and breathing heavily from the outburst.

There was a painful echoing silence.

Lance stood gaping at Hunk, jaw slightly dropped and surprise openly spread across his face. And then anger crept in, twisting his frown into a bared teeth snarl. Lance squared his shoulders, fists clenched and bristling.

  
“So that’s it, huh? The only reason you’re so hung up about this is because I’m keeping this a secret from you! JUST YOU!” Lance spat furiously, “All this talk about ‘ _team Voltron’_ but the reality is you’re only upset because you’re jealous that me and Keith are sharing something that you’re not a part of!”

Lance angrily jabbed a finger into Hunk’s broad chest. “WELL TOUGH! Keith needs me right now and like said before, this has nothing to do with you! I’m not telling you anything just because you’re being selfish so JUST BUTT OUT ALREADY!”

With those words, something inside Hunk snapped. He was done playing nice. 

“Oh yeah, I’m the selfish one?” Hunk practically growled and took a step forward, now towering over his friend. He felt a twinge of satisfaction as seeing Lance flinch back, fear momentarily flashing within his blue gaze.    

“HOW ABOUT YOU!?” Hunk bellowed so loudly that Lance tensed up like frightened rabbit about to bolt. “If you really cared about Keith, then you wouldn’t keep up this stupid little façade! You’d have told Shiro by now so that team Voltron can fix whatever you two screwed up!”

“Or maybe,” Hunk growled, eyes narrowing, giant fists clenching tightly. “You just like having something to lord over Keith.”

Lance froze, eyes wide and mouth open in shock. Hunk knew he had hit a nerve. A weak point.  Something to shatter whatever happy illusion that Lance had built up that the lies he was telling were right. A part of Hunk knew he should stop, but it was overridden by the nasty wave of satisfaction that crashed through him as he continued, cold anger fueling every word.

“You know his deepest darkest secret and now Keith, best of the best, has no choice but to rely on you. And you like that, don’t you?”  Hunk pushed, digging the metaphorical knife deeper. “You know you’re always going to be second best to him so this is your one chance for Keith to actually pay attention to you, to actually want to be around you and think of you as something other than a forgettable, annoying, loudmouth **_cargo pilot!”_**

The instant the words ‘cargo pilot’ left his lips, Hunk came to the terrible realization that he had gone much, much too far. Anger morphing almost instantly into horror, Hunk slapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was already done.

Lance stared at his best friend as though Hunk had just stabbed him through the chest, blues eyes round with pain and shining with a growing wetness. His bottom lip slightly quivered.

Hunk reeled back a step, panic coiling within his chest.  No….No…No…Lance was going to cry. He just made his best friend cry.

“Oh quiznak, Lance I…I…I’m so sorry!” Hunk apologized rapidly, extending an arm towards Lance as if to comfort him, but then coiling it back in hesitation.

Lance was silent, breathing heavily and not moving an inch.

Hunk pressed his large hands against his chest, over his frantically beating heart, and rotated them in a fretful manner, not sure what to do. “I’m didn’t mean it!” He pressed worriedly, “Any of it!”

 A sick, sinking feeling filled Hunk from his very core as the full weight of his words dawn upon him. He had taken all his best friend’s deepest fears and insecurities, his innermost and most sacred feelings, and basically spat them straight into Lance’s face. And rubbed salt in it for extra measure.

What kind of best friend did that?

So Hunk should not have been as surprised as he was when Lance suddenly let out an inhumane screech of rage and sucker punched the Yellow Paladin right in the jaw.


	10. ...The Advisors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tension is thick among the paladins and both Hunk and Lance are confronted by many, bringing both pain and comfort.

“What. Happened?” 

Neither Hunk nor Lance spoke or dared look up at Shiro who was standing before them, arms crossed and staring them down while radiating waves of disappointment. Their white-streaked leader’s tone was cold and angry, lacking any of familiar warmth. Hunk was sure if he looked the Black Paladin in the eye right now, he’d die of shame. Literally burst into flames. Maybe they could get a random Arusian to pilot the Yellow Lion afterwards.

At their cowardly silence, Shiro raised his voice. “ _WELL?_ I’d like to know why the Princess and I were forced to have to physically separate and restrain two elite Paladins of Voltron from attempting to kill one another!”

Hunk felt that ‘attempting to kill one another’ was a bit strong of a statement.  It was not his fault that Shiro and everyone else had ran in (probably called in by the all the ruckus) the moment Hunk had successfully gotten a hissing and cursing Lance into a chokehold by sitting on top of him. Okay so maybe he might have bruised a few of Lance’s ribs, but it had been the only way for Hunk to stop Lance from attempting to tear all his hair and break his nose.  It took both Keith and Shiro to pull Lance away (who at that point had started to shriek out a mix of vile insults in both Spanish, English, and in an odd alien language that Hunk swore he’d heard in an alien marketplace). The screaming and chaos came to a halt the moment Allura, face ablaze with fury and sapphire cape billowing behind her, demanded for silence and order.

Luckily, Shiro was mercifully enough to not leave them to suffer Allura’s painful wrath. He had marched them both straight to the Control Room so he as the Head of Voltron could issue their punishments and lecture the younger cadets under his wing himself.

As thankful as Hunk was that it was Shiro before them and not the Atlean princess (the Yellow Paladin was pretty sure she’d flay both him and Lance alive), in some ways hearing the anger and disappointment in Shiro’s voice was so much worse than any physical pain Hunk had ever endure.

It was almost as bad as seeing the look of pain and utter betrayal on Lance’s face during their fight.

Still remaining quiet, Hunk dared to steal a quick, guilty peek over at Lance.

Lance was glaring at the ground, tight-lipped and scowling. Black and purple bruises peppered the tan skin of his face and neck from where Hunk had held him down on the ground during their fight and his brown hair was a spiky mess, looking as though birds had fought in it.

Hunk knew he probably looked no better. He could feel a cut on his lip and a massive shiny bruise stood out on his jaw. His orange headband was torn in half and he was almost positive he now had a bald spot on the back of his head from where Lance had ripped some hair out.

They looked like a matching pair of idiots.

As the stony silence stretched on and the atmosphere of the room grew tenser by the tick, Shiro wisely changed course.

“Lance.” 

The Blue Paladin looked up as his leader’s low, demanding tone. Hunk saw a hint of fear flash in his friend’s eyes.

“Go wait outside. I want to talk to Hunk alone.” Shiro commanded in a cold voice. “You’ll be next.”

Hunk couldn’t stop himself from gulping in fear. He watched Lance mutely nod before turning around and exiting. Hunk tried to catch his friend’s eye, but Lance refused to look in Hunk’s direction.

Hunk had never felt so alone before.

Once Lance was gone, Shiro focused his attention on Hunk. “Are you going to tell me what you and Lance were fighting over?”

Hunk stared glumly at the floor.  He bit his bloodied lip, tasting copper. “No, sorry Shiro, but I can’t.”

There was a shift in his expression- his gaze softened and his frown looked less severe and angry than it had been only mere moments before.

“This isn’t like either of you, especially you Hunk.” Shiro commented, his voice quieter, sounding less like a commanding officer and more like a concerned friend.

Shiro’s somber expression stung him like a knife to the heart. He hated making Shiro sad, but he couldn’t risk Lance being even more upset with him by spilling the beans on his and Keith’s secret. Hunk also didn’t want Shiro to hear the horrible things he’d spat at Lance. The dark-skinned paladin felt sick to his stomach at the very memory of it.

He heard the older paladin sigh. “It’s about Keith, isn’t it?”

Hunk’s head shot up so fast his neck cracked. He stared at the Black Paladin with a slack jaw.

“H…How?” He stumbled dumbly. Did Shiro know? Had he figured everything out?

Shiro gave the younger paladin an understanding smile. “It’s pretty easy to notice that Lance and Keith have been hanging out a lot more with each other recently. I know you and Lance are best friends- It’s understandable that you might feel a bit jealous and angry that he’s become close with someone else too.”

 _And sharing  potentially dangerous secrets,_ Hunk thought sourly but did not say.

“Keith and I have known each other for quite a while.” Shiro continued, “You can even say he’s kind of an adoptive little brother to me.” Shiro heaved another sigh. “I know Keith is hiding something- how can I not after all we’ve been through? A part of me is upset that he’s not saying anything.”

“Bet Lance knows about it.” Hunk muttered, not able to keep the petty bitterness from his tone.

“I’m glad he does.” Shiro replied, his voice warm.

Hunk couldn’t help but stare up at the white-streaked man in surprise.

“B-But…don’t you want Keith to tell you if something’s wrong? You said it yourself- you two are like brothers!”

 “Of course I do,” Shiro answered, “but I’m also grateful that at least he has someone he trusts enough to confine about his troubles with, even if it isn’t me. I’d be more worried if I saw he was dealing with this all alone.”

Shiro gazed steadily at the Yellow Paladin, dark eyes strong and unwavering.

 “Hunk,  neither you nor I know exactly what Keith and Lance have gone through while away-what they saw and what kind of fear and pain they might have felt. It’s hard for a strong bond not to form when two people go through experiences like that. You and I both have to respect that.”

Hunk pulled his gaze downward, shame prickling up his spine. He then felt the firm, but comforting pressure of Shiro’s metallic hand upon his shoulder. He glanced back up to bask in Shiro’s kind and patient smile.

“But that doesn’t mean the bond you and Lance share or the bond Keith and I share is any less important. I’m positive that there are many things that Lance only feels comfortable sharing with you that he wouldn’t dare tell the rest of us.”

Hunk thought back to the secret sleepovers that he and Lance would have, the stories and gossip they’d share. The light laughter and caring looks exchanged.  Something warm and comforting lit up in his chest at the memory.

“I..I guess, you’re right.” Hunk admitted. Shame still rippled through him, but the tiny flicker of warmth in his chest helped ease the pain just a bit. He blinked up guiltily at Shiro. “I’m sorry for the fight. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not. Keep fighting like that on the battlefield, not in the middle of the hallway.” Shiro said, patting Hunk’s shoulder.

“Am I still being punished?” Hunk dared to ask.

Shiro grinned. “Oh yeah. Big time. You’re cleaning out the food depositor and pipeline for the next month.”

_Quiznak._

“Now go send in Lance so I can talk with him. You can go start on your punishment before dinner.” Shiro said, dismissing the Yellow Paladin.

Bummed about the lengthy punishment, but grateful that the scolding wasn’t as brutal as he’d thought it’d be, Hunk gave Shiro a brief salute before turning to leave. As he exited, he saw Lance leaning against the hallway wall, arms folding over his chest and sulking.

Hunk timidly cleared his throat. “Um…hey Lance, buddy? Shiro wants to talk with you now.”

The cold look Lance shot Hunk could have frozen over boiling hot magma. Without a word, Lance pushed himself up and walked past Hunk and into the control room.

As the door shut behind Lance, Hunk let out a loud groan.  Lance was giving him the silent treatment. That mean he screwed up big time.

Weighed down by heavy thoughts of guilt, annoyance, and memories of Shiro’s lecture echoing within his mind, Hunk made his way towards the wing of the Paladin’s living quarters. He wanted to at least clean the blood off his face before he started on kitchen duty.

After refreshing himself in his private quarters, Hunk exited his room and was surprised to find himself face to face with a vivid-looking Green Paladin.

“What did you do Hunk?” Pidge snapped, hazel eyes flashing with barely suppressed rage.

“I tried to talk with Lance.” He mumbled glumly.

The short girl glared testily. “And?”

“It didn’t go well.”

Pidge’s nose scrunched up in displeasure. “I can see that.”  She shook her head, golden-brown hair bouncing. “Hunk what the hell did you say to him?! For the love of Voltron, Lance was trying to strangle  you back there!”

Knowing that Pidge would never let him escape until he fessed up, Hunk reluctantly spoke, “I tried to get Lance to tell me what Keith’s secret was. We…um….started to argue and I….I…” Hunk thickly swallowed. “I might have said some really…really bad things.”

The Green Paladin stared at her teammate in incredible silence.

Hunk squeezed his eyes shut, praying that Pidge would not press him to repeat the terrible things he had told Lance. He wouldn’t be able to bear it. Plus Hunk was sure Pidge would probably despise him if she knew the degrading words he had used on Lance. Pidge may tease the Blue Paladin, but Hunk knew she would protect him as viciously as if he were her own brother.

“Why?” Pidge at last asked in almost strangled voice, blinking in disbelief at Hunk.

“ _Why?!_ ” Hunk repeated. He could not stop the tone of annoyance that prickled up. “Because we couldn’t form Voltron that’s why!”

“That was partly because of you and you know that.” Pidge pointed out, a flash of anger returning to her face.

“I KNOW!” Hunk cried out crossly. He could feel his frustration building and his restraints loosing. There was no need to hold back with Pidge. She already knew what was up.

“I know! I know! Look…I was worried okay? I know you and Shiro and probably everyone wants me to be respectful about their secret and their new weird bond and probably secret romance, but I can’t do that! I’m Lance’s best friend and I’m worried that he’s in over his head and getting hurt. You don’t know how much upset and scared I’ve seen Lance look the last couple days…the sort of conversations he’s had. And I know I’m should have been listening in or spying- it’s totally wrong and an invasion of privacy and you’re probably going to lecture me after all this, but I don’t care! _I WAS SICK OF WORRYING ON WHETHER MY BEST FRIEND WAS MAKING A MISTAKE OR NOT_!”

Hunk took a deep breath before continued once more, his voice a little calmer. “I…I… just wanted to see if I could get Lance to tell me so maybe we could fix it together. So I wouldn’t have to keep worrying about him…about the team…about Voltron.”

He let out a sigh of despair, rubbing his arm and gazing miserably down at his feet. “But now I have to add worrying about whether or not Lance will ever talk to me again on that list as well.”

The large paladin felt a pair of tiny arms wrap themselves around his vast waist. “Of course Lance will talking to you again, you gigantic idiot.” Pidge said, her voice muffled slightly as she pressed against his yellow shirt.

Hunk felt a painful lump rise up in his throat. “You didn’t see his face, Pidge. I-I really hurt him.”

“Like I told you time and time before, you’re his best friend, Hunk. Lance will forgive you no matter what. Just give it time.”

“Are you mad at me?” Hunk asked quietly. He knew how much Pidge had been against the idea of forcing Lance to reveal the secret.

Pidge stepped away from the hug and looked up, but still kept a comforting hand pressed against Hunk’s massive bicep. Her expression was stern.

“I wish you hadn’t done it.” She told him. Despite the frown on her face, there a look of soft empathy settled in her hazel eyes. “But I get it- I really do. You were worried about Lance and the team. That’s what you do.  It’s kinda your thing being the leg and all.”

A look of bewilderment crossed her face as she added, “But what I don’t understand is why you went to Lance.”

_.....What?_

“I mean, if you’re so set on finding out what the big deal is, then why not go talk to Keith?”

_.....What?_

“I mean it is his secret after all.”

Hunk blinked.

“…..What?”

 “…Oh for the love of quiznak.” Pidge quietly swore. She shot Hunk a cross look and asked, “Hunk you read my diary back at the Garrison so you knew I was a girl for a long time, right?”

Hunk blushed in slight embarrassment at the memory. “Er…yeah.”

 “Then why on earth didn’t you tell everyone?”

Hunk gave a bewildered stare. “Because it wasn’t my secret to tell! I didn’t want to embarrass you or something.”

Pidge flashed the taller paladin an exasperated look. “ _EXACTLY_! Lance probably feels the same way. Keith trusted him with something very important and you tried to force Lance to break that trust. It’s no wonder he’s upset.”

“But…but… Keith would never have told me.” Hunk argued weakly. “He doesn’t even trust Shiro enough to tell him!”

Pidge shook her head. “Then give Keith a reason to trust you. Talk with him- let him know you’ll support him…that we’ll all support him no matter what this stupid secret is. Just like Lance has.”

“If he’s already talked with Lance, then I seriously doubt he’d be willing to talk with me. Probably want to punch me in the face.” Hunk lamented sadly. He probably deserved it too.

Pidge shrugged. “Then we’ll just have to wait for Keith to tell us on his own. That’s all we can do, Hunk.”

Hunk’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah…you’re right.” Feeling rather stupid and even more upset himself than before, he said, “Look, I…I gotta go start on my punishment in the kitchen. I’ll meet you at dinner later, okay?”

Pidge looked like she’d have liked to talk more, but thankfully seemed to understand Hunk’s need for some solitude. She gave him a brief nod. “Okay. Just…let Lance cool down a bit and apologize to him in the morning. Everything will be better then, you’ll see.”

Not feeling up to talking anymore, Hunk just nodded. Pidge gave him one last pat on the arm before turning around to head towards her quarters. Hunk was alone in the corridor.

He started walking, letting his mind wonder absently as he started to trek down the long hallway. The way to the kitchen meant he had to go past the Control Room entrance. He did not hear any voices from inside. Hunk briefly wondered whether Shiro was done lecturing Lance by now.  

As Hunk was about to turn the corner that would take him past the Control Room and into a new hallways, he caught the glimpse of a very familiar dark-haired mullet.

The Yellow Paladin quickly backed up and hid himself behind the corner. After everything that happened today, he did not want to face Keith by himself at the moment. Hunk contemplated waiting until Keith had cleared out before resuming his trek to the kitchen.

Then he heard Keith start talking. Hunk hardly needed to guess to know who he was speaking with.

Hunk silently peeked over the corner.

“I’m fine Keith, lay off alright.” Lance’s snappish voice was audible and clear. The bruised up paladin was leaning against the wall while Keith hovered nearby, an expression of concern on his face.

“I just can’t believe Hunk would get in a fight with you.” Keith said, his deep voice full of disbelief. The Red Paladin reached a hand over to gently touch on of the bruises on Lance’s cheek as if checking to confirm that it was indeed real.

Hunk saw Lance slightly leaned his head into the touch. “Well…I kind of…maybe…threw the first punch.”

 _What do you mean **‘kinda’**? You totally did!” _ Hunk fumed silently.

Keith jerked his hand back, looking shocked. “Why? What the hell were you two arguing about?”

Hunk watched Lance look down at the ground and bite his lip, looking frightened. After a tick or two of hesitation, Lance spoke once more.

“Um…Well….You see…” Lance was faltering.

Keith’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Lance….tell me what happened.”

Lance closed his eyes and let out a breath for finally answering, “Hunk knows about the secret.”

Keith’s reaction was instantaneous. His violet-grey eyes blew up with wide with shock and horror and he took a step back as if physically punched. The raven-haired Paladin’s voice cracked as he shouted out, “ ** _HE KNOWS?!_** ”

Lance waved his hands around frantically trying to calm Keith down. “NO! I mean….yes, Hunk knows that you and are keeping a secret! He doesn’t know what it is though!”

Keith suddenly lounged forward aggressively, eyes narrowed into slits and flashing with anger at Lance. “Did you tell him?!” He hissed darkly.

Hunk almost gave in to urge the reveal himself, hand curled into an angry fist. He stopped himself just in time though.

Lance’s blue eyes lit up with furious disbelief. He scowled at his long-haired teammate. “OF COURSE NOT YOU IDIOT! Did you really think I’d go through all this trouble just to spill the beans just like that!?” He glared at Keith, spitting, “Jeez, give a guy a little more credit!”

Keith was practically tearing at his own hair now, pacing around in agitated circles like a caged tiger. “Well, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO THINK?!  He’s your best friend after all! How else would he have found out unless you dropped him hints or something?!”

“Because Hunk is smart and likes to snoop!” Lance retorted, looking greatly insulted. “And how can you say that? I’ve done nothing but help you keep your secret safe!  And let me tell you buddy, it hasn’t exactly been easy having to lie to my team and fight with my best friend! Freaking crows, would it _KILL YOU TO HAVE A BIT MORE TRUST IN ME_?!”

Keith whirled around to face Lance, temper flaring, shouting, _“I’M  TRYING_! It’s just difficult okay!”

 Lance’s own eyes narrowed into dark slits, baring a sliver of blue showing. “That’s that supposed to mean?” He growled, taking a step towards Keith. “Haven’t I done enough to show you that I want to help you? That I….”

The Blue Paladin stopped himself and stepped backwards. He took a deep, steady breath before continuing.

“Keith, if I hadn’t seen what I’d seen in that prison cell, would you have told me?” Lance asked, in a voice of barely concealed anger. “After everything you and I had gone through- after everything I did to try and save you from Lotor- would have still kept this a secret from me?”

Hunk watched Keith’s eyes go wide at the question. The Red Paladin shifted his glaring gaze to the ground, silently avoiding Lance’s unwavering, questioning stare.

When Keith’s brooding silence persisted, Lance leaned closer, his lips curled into a snarl. “Well?!”

Keith’s head snapped up, his eyes blazing with frustration and anger. “What do you think, Lance? I haven’t even told Shiro! Why the hell would I have told you?”

The Red Paladin’s words cut through the air like knife. Something in Lance seemed to fold inwards, breaking upon itself. His eyes closed and his shoulders slumping in utter defeat.

Lance’s reaction seemed to trigger something in Keith. The angry scowl melted into an expression of regret and horror. Keith looked as though he had just stabbed a puppy.

“I see.” Lance’s eyes opened and Hunk couldn’t help but flinch back, mimicking Keith’s own reaction. His blue eyes were like chips of ice, cold and piercing. “Should have known you’d avoid getting help from an annoying cargo pilot, huh? Afraid a loud mouth like me would blab it all out, is that it?”

“Lance, that’s not…what I mean is…” Keith stumbled over his words, one hand reaching out towards Lance.

“Sorry Keith,” Lance interrupted, taking a step back to avoid Keith’s touch. Though a smile graced Lance’s face, it was empty of any warmth. “But Shiro wants me to go help Coran clean out the medical pods as punishment. Wouldn’t want Coran to think I’m unreliable, can I?”

With his last words still stinging the air, Lance turned and walked away without a single backwards glance.

Hunk did not dare move, his heart thumping like wildfire inside his chest.

He did not look but heard Keith let out an upset growl of frustration and felt the vibration and sound of the wall being brutally punched.

Only when the Keith’s footsteps faded away did Hunk unfreeze. The Yellow Paladin pressed himself against wall and slid down to the floor, feeling hollow and empty.

Without a word, he buried his face in his hands.

                                                                   ________________________________________________________________________________

 

Lance never showed up for dinner.

Already the dinner was a horrible, uncomfortable affair. Since Hunk did not have time to cook anything because of his cleaning punishment, Coran had been in charge of dinner which meant all the earthling taste buds had to suffer. Everyone was still upset about not being able to form Voltron. Adding in the fight between Hunk and Lance just made things more awkward and tense. Lance not being present just made the horribleness of the situation even more pronounce.

Hunk paused from gloomily stirring around his green goo to glance around at the table. Shiro, Allura, and Pidge were all quietly eating. He glanced to his left and saw Keith sitting an empty chair away. Like Hunk, he wasn’t really eating but instead moodily glaring at his plate as if it was the disgusting goo’s fault that Lance wasn’t here.

Hunk was force to look away. He couldn’t stand staring at Keith for too long. It just brought back memories of the terrible argument he had witness…and argument that was his fault. Not only had Hunk ruined his and Lance’s own friendship but he had probably completely broken up whatever Lance and Keith had had as well.

Good job Hunk. Way to kill two birds with one stone. Fantastic example of major fuck-uppery.

Hunk stared miserably into his meal, not even bothering to try eating. He felt like throwing up.

He heard Coran speaking. Despite the grim atmosphere of the meal, the cheerful advisor seemed to be fighting to keep a light-hearted conversation going if only to lift everyone’s spirits a bit.

“You’ll all be happy to know that in case any of you managed to get yourself in a tough of injury, there are plenty of sparkling clean healing pods you all to choose from!” Coran happily announced.

“Please don’t jinx us.” Pidge muttered.

Shiro offered the older Atlean a wane smile. “I take it that means you kept Lance very busy?”

“Good.” Allura answered coldly, “He should be working hard to make up for such unbecoming behavior for a paladin.” At this she shot Hunk a furious glance. The princess was still quite peeved about the fight.

Hunk noticed Keith slightly perk up at the mention of Lance. He himself just sunk lower into his chair. It was his fault that Lance was being punished in the first place.

Coran hummed a bit to himself and waggled a finger. “Now, now Princess, I assure you that Lance was working very hard today. In fact, I hardly even needed to supervise him! He was quite aggressive in making sure each pod was absolutely spotless! He didn’t even want to leave for dinner until each pod was done! Can you imagine? Our Lance is shaping up to be a fine, hardworking cadet!”

He thoughtfully stroked his ginger mustache, humming quietly, “Hmm, though still a touch strange, I might add. Might go pop in and check on the lad.”

Without further ado, the Atlean advisor excused himself from the table. An uncomfortable silence was left in his wake. It took only a few minutes, before Keith silently stood and left as well, completely giving up on dinner and leaving his plate almost untouched.

Hunk tried to at least finish up his plate but very every bite felt like he was swallowing stones instead of goo. He eventually gave up and stood from his chair, announcing, “I think I’m heading to bed. Night.”

Trying not to look at anyone, especially Pidge or Shiro, Hunk exited the dining hall and started to make his way to his bedroom. Along the way, he spied Coran walking down the hallway, going the opposite direction. Hunk felt the urge to ask Coran to see how Lance was doing. He followed the advisor and watched the ginger-haired Atlean go into the Control Room.

Hunk slipped in after him.

The Yellow Paladin had expected the large, circular room to be dark and dim, lit up only by the cerulean glow of blue Balmera crystal standing proudly in its center. But instead the room was a lit with hundreds of bright, gleaming blue orbs and curved lines- mini hologram, transparent planets and stars, suns and galaxies, all idly orbiting around the room. Someone had turned on the galactic map.

At first Hunk thought it had been Coran, but Coran was still walking, going towards a dark, hunched figure sitting upon the one of the lowers steps by the window looking out into space.

It was Lance.

Hunk ducked behind the Balmeran crystal. He was the last person Lance probably wanted to see right now.

Not wanting to leave in case he alerted Coran or, Lions forbid, Lance, Hunk sat himself upon the cold floor and silently watched, his figure partially hidden from view due to the large mass of crystal, as Coran came to a halt right before besides a silent, motionless Lance.

“There you are, lad!” Coran greeted with in an upbeat tone, grinning down at Lance as if oblivious to the miserable atmosphere. “Been looking all over for you! Missed dinner I’m afraid, though I’ll be more than happy to whip you up a plate as seeing how well you sterilized those pods! Spotless the lot of them! Top marks!”

Lance, sitting upon the lower step of the mini staircase, had his knees pulled up his chin and had his arms wrapped around them. His head was buried in his sleeves so his voice was slightly muffled as he spoke.

“Please Coran, I don’t really want to talk right now. Go away.”

Hunk felt his heart slightly break at the misery in Lance’s voice.

Coran refuse to budge. He settled himself down besides Lance and playfully ruffled the young paladin’s brown hair with a gloved hand. “Come now Lance, buck up! It isn’t that unusual for best friends to get into a rough scuffle every now and again! Why when I was your age, me and one of my closest comrade had a round with each other and really went at it! Blood everywhere!”

The Altean chuckled and nudged Lance with his elbow. “Made what you and Hunk did seem like a tea party! Lost half of my mustache that day and still have a scar to remember it by.” Coran wiped away a tear of laughter. “We didn’t talk for weeks afterwards.”

Hunk slapped a hand over his forehead.

Coran seemed to realize his mistake and hastily coughed, “Um…er…best you forget the last part. But you and Hunk are as thick as thieves! You’ll be okay in no time!”

“No we won’t.” Lance said, slightly lifting his head. “I messed up. I messed up everything.”

Coran blinked owlishly down at the dark-skinned paladin. “That’s a bit of a big statement. I’m sure that whatever disagreement you and Hunk have, you’ll find a way to work it out.”

Hunk flinched when Lance threw his head back and let out a cry of frustration, whipping his head to glare at Coran.

“ You don’t understand! No matter what I do it's just going upset someone and mess everything up even more.” Lance confessed, his voice thick and raw with emotion, “My best friend probably hates me, Shiro and Allura are disappointed in me, Pidge probably thinks I’m an idiot, and Keith….Keith….” Lance let out an annoyed growl, throwing his arms up before reburying his face into the crook of them, hugging his knees tighter.

“Have you and Keith had a disagreement as well?” Coran quietly asked.

Lance remained stubbornly silent so Coran went on in a soft voice.

“I’ve noticed you two have been close since all of you returned to the Castle. But I’ve also noticed, especially with Keith, that you two seem troubled. Always on your toes and uncomfortable, even among your fellow paladins.”

The silence of the Blue Paladin stretched on.  But Hunk saw no impatience upon Coran’s wrinkled face, only gentle concern.

"Lance, if there is anything amiss between you and Keith, I’m all ears. Nothing you say will leave this room if you wish it, I assure you.”

Even with his face still buried into the folds of his arms, Lance still managed to shake his head and speak in a broke, tearful voice. “Please…Please don’t make me say it. I...I know that I should. I’m a paladin- defender of the universe and I’m supposed trust all you  guys and I do…but  I made a promise to Keith and I don’t know what do anymore and….and… just….just please don’t force me to say it.”

Hunk felt his throat tighten painfully hearing how utterly confused and sorrowful Lance sounded. It was his fault Lance was feeling this way.

“Lance, look at me.”

The brown haired paladin shifted, slightly raising his head, tilting his worn face toward the advisor.

“Has anyone ever told you what qualities the Blue Lion looks for in her paladins?” Coran asked the young man.

Lance quietly shook his head.

Coran smiled, his pale face lit up by the blue glow of the gleaming, twirling stars and planets hovering around in the darkness.

“Well then, allow me to educate you on the matter. Now young one, I’m positive our Princess has already mentioned the lions that form the legs of Voltron were meant to provide support for the others. The Yellow Lion provide solid stability always strong and reliable in times of need.”

 _Yeah, sure…reliable._ Hunk bitterly thought _. “So much for that.”_

“But the Blue Lion and her paladins” Coran continued, looking down fondly at Lance, “Are a little different. The Blue Lion looks for pilots that are adaptable…fluid like water itself, doing whatever they can to keep the team together and strong. Whether it means coming up with a cunning strategy during battle or providing a humorous quip to lift the moods of their fellow teammates!”

“Or” Coran added in quiet, significant voice, “becoming a trustworthy confidante…for those who need it most.” He continued in a lighter tone. “The Blue Paladins must also be full of trust! Trust for their lions, their teammates, and in themselves- have confidence in their decisions and in acting on what they believe is the right choice.”

“Trust and Acceptance.” Coran finished, “Being able to acceptance a situation and adapt to it accordantly and trust yourself and your teammate no matter what. Those are the qualities that the Blue Lion looks for in her pilots.”

“Well, that’s not me.” Lance replied in a shaky voice, almost too low for Hunk to hear. “It’s all an act- I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time. Both Hunk and Keith were right on the mark.”  He let out a hollow laugh, “Shiro is the leader, Keith the best pilot and fighter, and Hunk and Pidge are both geniuses- I’m nothing compared to them! What have I done as a paladin that Shiro or Keith, or Allura or anybody else on the team couldn’t have done?”

“You saved my life.” Came Coran’s simple answer.

Lance fell silent.

The ginger advisor chuckled softly. “Barely known me for more than two cycles and yet you were still willing to sacrifice yourself to save this old fool. And later still, you were able to rouse yourself from the brink of death to save Pidge. Despite still having a family, a home, a planet to return to, never once have you tried to abandon your duty as paladin nor leave your friends behind.  And if none of that convinces you of your worth, then remember this- when the Blue Lion had all these talented, potential paladins gathered within her presence it was you she chose. She chose you, Lance. No one else.”

The galaxies continued to swirl and dance above their heads, twinkling and gleaming. Hunk could spot the tiny, faded form of Earth floating above Lance and Coran’s heads- a comforting, painful, happy memory just out of reach. In the quiet cascade of glowing blue against the dark vastness of space, Coran’s warm voice echoed softly.

“A paladin with the power to earn the undying trust of his teammates and the determination to do everything within their ability to protect that trust no matter what the sacrifice. What more could the Blue Lion ever ask for in her brave, loyal pilot?”

Coran’s sincere words were too much for Lance. With a loud sniffle, Lance whirled around and buried his head into Coran’s chest, his shoulders shaking with quiet sobs as all the stress, insecurities, and pain from the last few days finally came bursting out in tears and pure raw emotion.

The royal advisor looked stunned for only a tick before smiling and wrapping his arms around the young paladin, pulling him into a tight, comforting hug.

“There, there, son. You’ll be fine.” Coran told the crying boy, raising a gloved hand to stroke the top of Lance’s head with father-like affection. “It’ll be alright.”

Hunk didn’t wait to hear if Lance replied. He couldn’t stay. This moment was too private, too intimate for Hunk to intrude on any longer.

Positive Coran and Lance were too consumed by emotion to notice, Hunk crept out. He did not stop until he had successfully made back into his own bedroom and crawled within his sheets, not even bothering to change into his nightwear, only kicking his boots off.

In darkness of his room, Hunk’s only thought was, _“I’ve been a terrible leg of Voltron”_ before he quietly burst into tears.


	11. ...The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of mission, the Yellow and Red Paladin finally have a heart to heart....

Hunk awoke to the sound of alarms blazing.

 By how much his eyes hurt when he opened them, Hunk knew he had only slept for a short amount of time. Despite this, the large paladin pushed himself out of bed, his body having grown rather accustomed to that act of waking up suddenly due his time in the dangerous reaches of space and Allura’s obsession with sudden drills.

It only took the Yellow Paladin a minute and half to suit up in his armor and two to make it to the control room. It didn’t surprise him that Keith and Shiro were already fully dressed and waiting with Allura and Coran. Though seeing Lance was a bit of surprise- Lance was usually a heavy sleeper. However, judging by how red Lance’s eyes were and how protectively close Coran stood beside him, Hunk seriously doubted Lance had been resting at all before the alarms.

Hunk wanted to go stand next to Lance, but the lanky Blue Paladin was purposely standing far away from both Hunk and Keith, carefully keeping his blue gaze focused solely on Allura. Hunk knew he should have expected the cold shoulder, but it didn’t lessen the sting any more. He took a peek over at Keith and saw pain flicker on Keith’s expression at Lance’s purposeful avoidance before it switched back into his usual neutral glower.

As soon as Pidge entered the room only a tick or so after Hunk had, Allura, steely-eyed and face set in a stern expression, began to address the gathered paladins.

“We just received an emergency distressed signal from the nearby planet of Lyrolic,” The white-haired princess explained, pulling up a translucent holomap of the surrounding galaxy with a flick of her hand. “Lyrolic is a small planet, probably as big as Pluto within your own galaxy and its inhabitants are a subterranean race with colonies beneath the planet’s surface.”

“Like Shay and her family on the Balmera?” Hunk couldn’t help but pipe up.

Allura sent him a curt nod. “Yes, though in that case they were forced to do so by the Galra. Lyroliceans have always preferred the underground even when Altea still stood.”

“What’s the situation? Are Galra attacking?” Shiro inquired.

“Based on the translated message we received that looks like that case.” Allura said. “Though from the message’s contents it seems that the main concern is that the Galra have unleashed something within their tunnels that is terrorizing the colonies. The Galra are preventing any Lyrolicean from escaping to the surface.”

Allura’s description of the Lyrolicean’s plight was reminding Hunk uncomfortably of some of his cousin’s rabbit hunting stories, particular one that featured his cousin sending a hungry ferret down a rabbit tunnel in order to chase out or corner the poor frightened rabbits inside. Hunk suppressed a shudder.

“Something seems out of place.” Pidge pointed out. “Galra are bloodthirsty, but they usually just capture and enslave residents of a planet not…”

“Trap them underground with some kind of monster.” Finished Keith in his usual blunt manner.

“I will admit the situation is unusual.” Allura said, a hint of puzzlement in the tone of her voice. “So far Lyrolic has been saved from Galra control due to its size and lack of resources useful to the Galran Empire.”

“It could be a trap.” Shiro pointed out. “Hold a planet hostage to bring in Voltron.”

Allura shook her head. “Perhaps, but one would think their fleet would be must bigger if that were the case. Regardless, it’s the Paladin duty to respond to any distress signal. We’ll just have to proceed with utmost caution.”

With that, the Atlean princess dismissed them and the Paladins dispersed to head to their Lions, preparing themselves the upcoming mission.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Within the next hour, the five Lions of Voltron were flying out towards the little green planet of Lyrolic. It was awfully smaller than other planets that Hunk had seen since his time as a Paladin.  Thankfully, there were no sight of any Galran warships within the upper exosphere of the planet.

 _“We’ll probably run into them closer to the surface, so keep alert.”_ Shiro said, addressing the paladins from within the Black Lion through their shared commlinks. _“But from Allura’s said, there’s not much of fleet. If that is the case, then I’ll take them down from the sky. Lance and Pidge, I want you two to focus on clearing the entrance of the main tunnel of the colony from the Galra and handle evacuating civilians to a safe location.”_

 _“On it!”_ Both Lance and Pidge replied.

 _“Keith, Hunk.”_ Shiro continued, _“I want you to focus on recon in the deeper tunnels. Find out what’s down there and report back. If at all possible, DO NOT try and engage. And I am speaking directly to you Keith.”_

 _“You try and take out an emperor solo once and now no one lets you forget it.”_ Keith muttered grumpily.

Hunk felt his got tighten uncomfortably at Shiro’s orders. Usually he was paired with Lance or Pidge during missions. Perhaps Shiro was attempting to clear the air between himself and Keith by forcing the two to work together on a mission. Or Shiro just thought it was safer to place Lance with Pidge at the moment rather than with Keith or Hunk. At least Pidge hadn’t managed to break Lance’s heart in the last 24 hours.

At last, the Lions broke through the outer atmosphere of the planet and could now clearly see the finer details of the Lyrolic’s surface. At first, Hunk though he saw mass forests of leafless trees covering the surface of the planet with large hills, almost tiny mountains, of green soil covering the spaces between them. However, as the Yellow Lion flew closer, Hunk could see that the tall, but extremely thin branch-like appendages growing out of the ground were definitely not tree trunks.

“They’re roots.” Hunk confirmed eyes wide with amazement. “The trees and plants grow upside down!”

That certainly explained why the Lyroliceans preferred a subterranean lifestyle since their plant life seems to grow the opposite way of the plants on Earth.

However, the Yellow Paladin had little time to marvel the strangeness of the Lyrolic’s flora when a two large Galra warships came into view as the lions flew towards the tallest green mound.

The Black Lion flew ahead of the pride and opened its massive, metal jaws to shoot at the closet warship. It was a direct hit. A tick later, a fireball of an explosion shook the air. The Galra ships retaliated with a barrage of purple laser fire.

The lions all scattered. Hunk and the Yellow Lion flew after the smaller, nimbler Red Lion. Shiro’s voice filtered through Hunk’s helmet with instructions.

_“I’ll take care of these two.  Lance, Pidge go after the Galra on the ground. Allura said the main entrance to the colonies are at the base of the mound. Keith, Hunk, land and head into the tunnels while Blue and Yellow cover you.”_

Everyone sent an affirmative to Shiro’s instructions. Hunk took a tick before signing out to open up a private link to the Blue Lion.

“Umm…be careful out there, okay Lance?” Hunk said rather timidly. Even if Lance was still not speaking to him, Hunk felt it was wrong not to say something to his best friend before they separated for a mission.

A few tense, rapid heartbeats later, Hunk heard a Lance’s subdued voice send him a quiet but sincere reply.

_“You too, Hunk. Keep an eye on Keith for me okay?”_

Just hearing Lance speak to him once more sent a small, fluttering warmth spreading across Hunk’s chest. Hunk swallowed thickly, unable to reply due to the emotion bubbling up inside his throat. Hunk felt the powerful urge to speak more to Lance, to let out how sorry he was for everything and salvage their cracked friendship. But now was not the time. Hunk was the Yellow Paladin and had a mission to complete.

 _There will be time_ , Came Yellow’s rumbling purr, as warm and comforting as a sunny day, vibrating through Hunk’s very soul.

Hunk gripped the handles of the control panel tightly, fixing his expression into a focused and determined grimace. Yellow was right- soon he’d be able to fix everything up with Lance.

He just had to complete this mission first.

                                                                                                  ----------------------

By the time Keith and Hunk had successfully landed their lions as a safe distance (activating the force fields as well) and trekked their way to the ground base of the towering green mound, any Galra soldiers and aircraft had abandoned the looming, arched cavern-like entrance in order to fight against the attacking Blue and Green. The mechanical lions were soaring in the skies above Hunk’s and Keith’s heads, their roars and the sound of their blasts vibrating the air.

The Red and Yellow Paladin easily slipped through vast tunnel entrance. Keith did not talk at all, keeping a focused silence, for which Hunk was slightly grateful. At least with all the stress and weight of the mission, it kept the awkwardness of two of them being paired up at bay, at least for the moment. It did not take but a few short minutes of walking to run into the planet’s residents, almost a hundred of them, huddled together fearfully.

Hunk had honestly thought that the Lyrocians would closely resemble Shay’s people due to their similar lifestyle of living underground. However, these aliens looked like gerbils. Well, almost. Obviously, they were much bigger, though the taller ones only came up to the middle of Keith’s chest. Their short fur not covered up by their clothes came in variety of blues and greens. Their hands were large and wide, with long, blunt claws and their long, tails were split like a snake’s tongue.  Their ears were also pointed, looking more like bat ears.

Despite all this, they were adorable and Hunk felt a great need to grab one of them into a hug and put one of Lance’s sweaters on them.

From the fearful crowd, the tallest Lyrocian stepped forward towards Keith and Hunk. Its fur was a dull, dark blue and its large, black eyes glared hard at the two humans.

“Who are you? Are you with the Galra?” It growled, flexing its claws threateningly. Its squeaky voice had a feminine quality to it. Hunk assumed she was the leader.

Hunk saw Keith glare back at the smaller alien and, knowing full well how easily provoked the Red Paladin could be, stepped in and raised his hand up in a placating manner.

“No mam,” Hunk politely answered. “We’re the paladins of Voltron…well two of them at least. We got your message and we’re here to help. The rest of our team is fighting the Galra outside- we’re here to find out what’s attacking your colony.”

A collective sigh of relief seemed to spread through the masses of rodent-like aliens. The blue-furred leader’s bold facade immediately faded away, her shoulders and whiskers sagging with weariness. The poor alien looked exhausted.

“You have our deepest gratitude.” She squeaked. “I am Hima, Thane of the Normhe Colony. The Galra have sent a great beast upon us.” Hima gestured with her forked tail at the crowd behind her. “I evacuated as many as I could from the Normhe Colony and send messengers to warn the nearby colonies. We tried to flee to the surface, but the Galra scum blocked us”

“Our friends will get you to the surface as soon as the Galra outside are taken care of.” Hunk assured the Thane.

“Can you tell us what’s attacking you?” Keith asked.

Immediately a chorus of squeaky voices rose up from the crowd.

“Big! Bigger than even you tall ones!”

“Pointy tail! Lots of pointy, scary tails!”

“Ugly and furless like you two!”

“WATCH YOUR TONGUE GIMMO BEFORE I WALLOP YOUR EARS RED, YOUNG BUCK!”

Hunk did his best to raise his voice over the ruckus. “Do you know why Galra have sent this thing to attack you guys?”

There was a small, but significant pause before Hima shook her furry head, dark eyes grim, “I can guess, but who knows what goes on for certain in the twists minds of the Galran?”

Hunk’s gut gave an uncomfortable twitch. The gerbil-like alien’s answer just seemed too vague for the Yellow Paladin’s liking. She was hiding something. He noticed a one or two Lyroliceans behind Hima send their leader glares. Hunk’s suspicion rose.

Before Hunk could try and question Hima further, Keith spoke up, “Where is this monster?”

The Lyrolicean leader swiveled her blue head and nodded toward the tunnel behind the crowd. “I know not its exact location. It seems to move swiftly. But we last heard it down the tunnels of the southern quadrant.”

Hunk shared a blank, confused glance with Keith. Well, that meant absolutely nothing to either of them.

“Could…maybe one of you guys lead us there?” Hunk dared to ask.

Not a single Lyrolicean raised a whisker.

Yep, as a fellow coward, Hunk knew he should have expected that kind of response. Not that Hunk could blame them. Most of the aliens were as big as the Arusians and, despite their large claws, did not look as though they could put up much of a fight.

“Let’s just get moving.” Keith said, already tired of waiting for any response from the gathered escapees. Without a backwards glance, the Red Paladin made his way through the crowd and started down the seemingly endless tunnel.

Hunk gave Hima one last look, “Don’t worry, my buddies Lance and Pidge will come escort you guys to the surface as soon as it’s safe.”

Hima raised a claw to her forehead, bowing her head slight in what seemed like a gesture of respect. “We thank you and wish you luck finding the beast.”

Hunk sent her a nod of thanks and began to follow after his fellow paladin into the far-stretching darkness.

 

                                                                          ------------------------------------

 

Within the next ten or fifteen minutes, Hunk really wished that they had convinced at least one Lyrolicean to come with them. For a while Hunk and Keith had continued down the main tunnel, but it had soon split off into several different paths. The two paladins randomly picked one and ventured down it, looking for any sign at all that the so-called beast had passed by. So far they had come up for with no clue at all on its whereabouts.

The tunnels were vastly different from the underground mines on the Balmera. The cavern ceilings were much, much higher up and large, tuber-like plants hung down, some almost touching the floor. They were an variety of different colors, though all rather muted and each let out a faint glow. Some of the plants had giant, round fruits hanging off. To Hunk it almost felt like walking through a colorful cathedral.

Hunk and Keith traveled in a relative silence and only paused every now and again to have Keith carve a little arrow or symbol on the cavern wall to keep track of where they had been. Last then either of them wanted was to get lost when there was a dangerous beast on the loose.

It was in these moments when Hunk felt awkward with only the sound of Keith’s sword scraping through packed earth filling the strained silence kept between the two teammates.

Hunk knew that Keith was probably mad and, probably a little frightened, of that he knew Keith was keeping a secret hidden away from the rest of the team. Hunk himself would feel the same way if he were in the Red Paladin’s position.  Hunk kicked himself more than ever that he had not heeded Pidge’s advice and kept his mouth shut. Or at least had gone to talk to Keith in the first place like an actual honest friend instead of trying to force Lance to blab everything out.

The Yellow Paladin watched Keith put the finishing touching to his crude-looking arrow. An expected spark of courage lit up inside Hunk and, before he could chicken out, Hunk called out, “Hey Keith, can I say something?”

Keith paused, his back still turned to Hunk. “Did you find anything about the monster?”

Hunk rubbed the yellow armor grooving his elbow nervously, casting his gaze to the side. “Umm…no, its actually about…um…the fight me and Lance had.”

“Hunk, we really don’t have time for this.” Keith said his voice almost a growl, obviously wanting to avoid the discussion.

A part of Hunk felt the same way, wanting to avoid this entire conversation and pretend this fiasco ever happened. However, Hunk knew that nothing would ever be right between himself, Keith, and, most importantly, Lance until he laid everything out.

“Look, I know Lance has already told you this,” Hunk began, his voice wavering a bit due to nerves, “but….but I know you’re hiding something from the team. I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s something big. AND” – Hunk’s voice grew stronger and persistent – “ before you say anything, no- Lance never told me anything. I just found out because I’m a horrible snoop with no sense of privacy at all and…and…I’m sorry. I should have been more respectful to you and to Lance.”

Keith still hadn’t turned around, but Hunk could tell by his silence and how stiff he was that he was keenly listening. Hunk felt encouraged to go on, taking a few steps closer to the Red Paladin.

“Please…don’t be mad at Lance. I’m the one who tried to force him to say what your secret was. I thought I was doing it for the team because we weren’t able to form Voltron and for Lance since I knew he was getting hurt.”

“I didn’t hurt him on purpose.” Keith said in a low, sad-sounding voice. “I didn’t want to do those stupid training sessions in the first place.”

“I know. Lance told me they were all accidents.” Hunk told him. “I should have trusted him and you, but I didn’t. I let my own fears…”  Hunk felt his throat tighten painfully, “…my own jealousy get in the way of my better judgement. That was wrong of me.”

At this, Keith turned around, blinked in a flabbergasted manner.

“Jealousy?” Keith echoed, “Why were you jealous?”

Hunk stared in bewilderment at the Red Paladin. Could he really not see? “Because Lance cares so much about you! Ever since you two made it back to the rest of us, you are always together! It…It just hurt to see my best friend so close with someone else and to know he was hiding something from me.”

A shameful look of guilt stole across Keith’s face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Hunk cut him off.

“I know you didn’t mean to make me feel that way and I shouldn’t have let it get to me like it did. I completely blew up on Lance because of it. I was a terrible friend to both of you.” Hunk fixed Keith with a sorrowful look, dark eyes pools of regret, “But especially with you, Keith.”

Keith stared silently at Hunk, violet eyes wide and staring as if not sure whether to believe he was hearing.

Hunk let out a heavy sigh. “Look, Keith I know I’m probably the last person you’d want to confine in at the moment and I understand, but please, if there’s anything you need me to do to help you out …just let me know. I want to help. I don’t want you and Lance to have to suffer by yourselves anymore.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Hunk.” Keith murmured quietly, turning his head sideways to avoid Hunk’s gaze.  “If you really knew what was going on, you wouldn’t be saying this. You don’t trust me. You don’t know me at all.”

“…I know the Red Lion chose you for a reason.” Hunk said. “I know you care about what Shiro and all of us think about you. I know that you miss your shack and your hoverbike back on Earth. I know you laugh at my food jokes,” Hunk took a step closer to Keith and spoke warmly, “And most of all, I know you’re like me- you love Lance.”

Hunk heard Keith’s breathe catch. The Red Paladin slowly raised his head to face Hunk, his violet eyes round and brimming shock behind the visor.

“I know it’s not a lot to go off of.” Hunk said, gracing Keith with a small, kind smile. “But it’s enough for me to want to trust you.”

Keith blinked, his face a frozen, stunned mask. Only his eyes moved- shimmering and dancing with such an array of emotions it was impossible to distinguish one from the other. Surprise and disbelief. Fear and worry. Perhaps….maybe…acceptance?

 “Hunk…” Keith’s voice was thick, his words coming out in almost a choke. “I…I’m really…” The violet-eyed paladin let out a deep, shuddering breath as if bracing himself. He then narrowed his eyes and squared his shoulders, his face settling into a determined scowl. “I’m going to show you something that can’t leave this tunnel.”

Hunk felt his heart start to hammer wildly inside his chest. His throat suddenly felt very dry. “Keith, what are you --”

The words died off of Hunk’s lips. His jaw fell open and his eyes widen with a mixture of shock and concern as what Hunk could only describe as a ripple seemed go throughout Keith’s body- spreading from the top his head down to his feet, leaving a trail of purple at its wake. It took only a tick before every inch of visible bare skin were a shocking, but very familiar shade of purple. Keith then removed his red helmet to shockingly remove a pair of pointed and very, very fluffy ears peeking out from his still black mullet. Keith’s eyes opened to show his usual violet orbs now a sharp, terrifying yellow.

Hunk stared, unable to move, only able to gape in disbelief at what he was seeing.

Where Keith stood, there was no longer a human.

But very much a Galra.

“You…you…” Hunk found his voice but could only stutter and point at Keith.

Keith’s new furry, pointed ears lowered in a submissive state. “I know.” He sighed, closing his new golden eyes and hunching his shoulders as if preparing for the worst.

“You have chinchilla ears!” Hunk blurted out, unable to contain himself any longer. Suddenly memories started to bombard him. Snatches and snippets of conversations he had eavesdropped all. All the vagueness and nonsense all starting to fall into place.

 “That’s why Lance was calling you that!” Hunk realized, starting to pace around frantically in a tight circle. He couldn’t help the almost hysterical laugh that escaped him. “The purple bruises! The sudden strength! Why Lance was so scared of Allura! It makes sense!”

He suddenly came to a halt. “Wait, no it doesn’t.” Hunk whirled around to splutter idiotically at Keith. “HOW ARE YOU A GALRA?!” He then remembered Keith and Lance’s capture with the Galran Prince. “Did…did Lotor do something to you?”

Keith shrugged his shoulders. “Only reveal that I’m not as human as I thought.” He answered in a voice laced with bitterness.

Hunk didn’t know what to say to this revelation. He could only continue to stare dumbfounded at Keith, still not able to fully process what he was seeing. So this was the secret Lance had fought tooth and nail to keep hidden from everyone. Honestly out of all the outlandish theories Hunk had conjured up in his mind, the idea of Keith being a Galra never once popped up.

As Hunk’s stunned silence lengthened, Keith seemed to shrink back, ears pinned and golden gaze growing distressed. “Please don’t be scared.” Keith pleaded, his usual strong, silent confidence shredded away. He looked more like a frightened kitten than any bloodthirsty Galra Hunk had ever faced. “It’s still me.”

The hopelessness in Keith’s voice as he said this, as if he were trying to convince himself more than Hunk, drove a pang of sympathy through Hunk’s heart.

Without a second thought, Hunk pushed himself forward to engulf Keith into a massive hug. Keith let out a squeak of surprise but Hunk refused to let the Red Paladin go, only tightening his warm embrace.

“Of course I’m not scared of you, Keith.” Hunk assured. He felt Keith’s ears twitching against the side of his head. “Actually, to be honest, I kinda expected your secret to be a bit worst.”

“You’re just as insane as Lance then.”  Keith mumbled in a tight voice as if fighting back emotions.  The Yellow Paladin gently let go of Keith who instantly swept an arm across his eyes. 

Hunk pretended not to notice and fiddled with his helmet until Keith had composed himself. “You know Lance wanted to tell you a lot sooner.” Keith said, giving Hunk a rare smile. His teeth were now pointed. “He really trusts you. Guess I should have listened to him.”

Hunk felt touched, both by Lance’s loyalty and by Keith’s exclamation. The Yellow Paladin felt his own eyes started to water and held back a sniffle.

Suddenly the inside of Hunk’s helmet erupted with static. Then came Pidge’s voice, crackling and sounding like she was shouting from far away.

_“Hunk can - ***static*** -you hear me?”_

“Just barely.” Hunk replied into his comm. “I think the depth of the tunnels and flora life down here is intervening with our transmissions.”

“We have-*static*-a big problem!”  There was obvious panic in Pidge’s voice as it fought to cut through the static. _“LANCE RAN OFF HUNK!  I…. ***static*** I don’t know where! ***static*”**_

Hunk felt like he had just fallen into an ice-cold pool. He swallowed up the rising sense of panic and tried to calmly connect back with Pidge. “What happened Pidge? I thought you guys were handling getting the aliens to the surface?  Why did Lance run off?”

“LANCE IS-”Keith began, taking a step towards Hunk, but the Yellow Paladin cut him off by sharply raising his palm up in front of the mullet-haired Galra’s face. An almost comedic look of surprise flickered on the Red Paladin’s now purple face but Hunk ignored it.

“Ssshhhh!” Hunk hushed his teammate, sending him warning glare. “I’m trying to hear Pidge.”

Keith let out an annoyed huff, but looked a tad bit impressed that Hunk was able to stand up to him, especially while looking like a vicious Galra.

It took a tick or two for Pidge’s to regain some connection. _“I don’t know. ***static*** We were herding the Lyroliceans out- ***static*-** of the tunnel and two- ***static*** -were arguing. Lance was going to break them up when- ***static*** -one mentioned something about hiding a fugitive.- ***static*** -A Galra fugitive…”_

Hunk was suddenly felt his helmet being jammed off his head. Keith gripped the yellow helmet between his clawed hands and shouted hoarsely into it. “What was the fugitive’s name?!”

 Hunk felt his veins flood with horror and shock as Pidge’s static-lined voice called out a single name that burst through Hunk’s memory like fire.

_“Thace.”_


	12. ...The Hunter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wicked dark presence, sent by an old enemies, lurks within the tunnels as Red and Yellow Paladin race to save the comrade they hold dear....and blood will be spilled.

_“_ THAT IDIOT! _THAT STUPID, HARD-HEADED IDIOT!”_

Hunk listened as Keith’s infuriated voice echoed throughout the chamber as the two ran down the fourth new tunnel path they had tried. All the insults were directed towards their disappeared companion Lance.

“WHERE THE _HELL_ DOES HE GET OFF ALWAYS CALLING ME IMPULSIVE WHEN HE DOES **_CRAP LIKE THIS_**?!”

The Yellow Paladin had no idea how Keith could keep yelling like a maniac and run like an Olympic sprinter at the same time. It took all of Hunk’s strength and stamina to keep up with Keith. He figured that Keith’s current Galra form was physically fitter and quicker than any normal human if Lance’s constant sparring injuries were any clue to go by.

“I’LL KILL HIM WHEN I SEE HIM! **_WHAT THE QUIZNAK IS THAT IDIOT THINKING?!”_**

“Slow down a bit Keith!” Hunk’s breaths were coming out in painful huffs and puffs, sweating dripping down his forehead.  They just entered into a new tunnel. Hunk was starting to get worried that by the time they’d found Lance all would them would be completely lost. The two paladins had set off in such a rush after receiving Pidge’s message that they had not bothered to stop and mark any tunnel path they’d gone through.

 “Who is this Thace guy anyway?” Hunk asked, trying to shake off the worrying thoughts of being lost in foreign tunnels of an alien planet with a horrible monster.

“My dad!” Keith answered, spitting the words out like poison.

“Oh, okay.” It took a few seconds for Keith’s answer to fully registered. When it did, Hunk’s eyes popped in shock. “YOUR DA-Oof!” In his startled state, Hunk tripped and went plummeting to the ground.

This caused Keith to finally come to a halt. The Galran paladin ran back to help haul Hunk back to his feet. The hard fall did nothing to bruise Hunk’s overwhelming curiosity. “You mean your actual dad?! He’s a Galra?”

Keith shot him a glare that told him how stupid that question was considering the situation. Hunk rubbed his nose in embarrassment but couldn’t help but asked, “How about your mom?”

The young Galra looked away, fluffed ears low. “Human as far as I can remember, I guess. But she’s been dead since I was little so who knows.”

Hunk then remembered when Lance told him about Keith not having any family and wanted to hit himself for the question. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Keith shrugged his shoulders and continued to run forward, Hunk following close behind. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t even know about my dad being alive until I was captured by Lotor.”

“Why is he a fugitive?” Hunk asked, trying his best to keep up with Keith as they ran blindly down the tunnel.

“Guess cause he helped me and Lance escape.” Keith answered, not sounding particularly concerned about the fate of his supposed father. Despite Hunk’s curiosity, he knew it wasn’t the time or the place to prod for more gossip.

As they came to where the tunnel divided into two, the Red Paladin paused and stood still swiveling his longer ears around almost like a cat. Hunk figured he was trying to listen for Lance. Keith let out a growl, snapping his canines in frustration. “Nothing!” He turned to Hunk. “Can our helmets track one another?”

Hunk had already checked. “They usually can.” He told Keith, “But they’re acting up the same way our comms are. I think something down here is messing with the signals.”

“This didn’t happen on the Balmera.” Keith pointed out crossly.

“Well, the earth and magnetic fields might work differently. Or the all these plants might be doing something. It could be anything, I’m just not sure.” Hunk explained, wishing he could tell Keith more but he didn’t know enough about this planet to make a proper guess. Nor did he have much time to find out. There was something dangerous lurking around in these tunnels and Lance was all by himself.

Keith looked as though he wanted to send Hunk a retort, but then he froze, ears standing straight up. “I hear guns.” Keith said, a slight tremor in his voice. “Lance is shooting at something!”

Without another word, Keith shot into the left tunnel. In the dim darkness, Hunk could see the red flash of Keith’s bayard activating.

Hunk shot after him, getting his own bayard out. With the knowledge that Lance was possibly already in danger, all exhaustion was forgot, replaced with the usual dosage of anxious adrenaline that filled him during missions. He found it easier to keep up with Keith. Together the Red and Yellow Paladin raced down the tunnel. Within minutes, Hunk too could hear the unmistakable sounds of a fight going on.

The blasts of a gun.

Snarls and roars.

Crashes and rumbles of rocks crumbling.

The clicks, hisses, and clatters of…something. Something large.

Hunk could see the end of the tunnel. There was an open entrance leading somewhere. Getting closer and closer.  Hunk tightened his grip on his bayard and gulped, afraid of what they were going to see.

Heart stuck in his throat, Hunk followed Keith through the opening at the end of the tunnel. It led to large, very open chamber with thick, rather roundish plants hanging down the ceiling like organic stalagmites. And in the center of the chamber were two lone figures standing back to back to one other and staring up at the ceiling. One was a very tall, broad-shouldered adult Galra with distinct purple sideburns and a bleeding shoulder. Hunk guessed that was the infamous Thace. But Hunk recognized the second individual instantly.

“LANCE!” Both Hunk and Keith called out as the same time.

Both Lance and the Galra, Thace, turned in unison turned the two newcomers. Lance’s blue eyes widened at the sight of Hunk and Keith running towards him. “NO! Don’t come ne—“

Suddenly a black blurr shot down from the ceiling and stabbed the ground like a javelin inches away from where Hunk was about to take a step. Hunk let out a yelp of surprise and skid to a halt, swinging out an arm to block Keith’s path. The two young paladins stood gaping at the spectacle before them. The black blur that had almost sliced through Hunk’s foot was an extremely long, tentacle-appendage that was black in color and looked as slick as oil. As they watched, the tentacle pulled itself out of the ground and slid back into the air like a fish line being reeled in. Hunk followed the appendage’s progress and tilted his head up towards the ceiling.

Hunk barely held back a horrified scream.

Clinging to one of the large, bulbous-like plants that hung down from the cavern ceiling was a creature that could have only crawled out from the darkest pit of nightmares.

As large as the biggest bull elephant, the monster’s as arachnid-like body, almost similar to a scorpion, six jointed legs on each side, jet black with red armor-like exoskeleton covering the length of it body.. The upper body stood upright and two, long deadly looking pinchers served as arms. Its head was triangle with two long antennas at the top and with four sickly yellow eyes, two on side with cat-slits glaring hungrily down at the puny creatures below. Its muzzle extended into a narrow maw, with grotesque fangs hanging out. But the most unique and terrifying aspect of the alien was its tails. There were a dozen of them, all tentacle-like and writhing as if alive, spread out behind its body like a morbid peacock fan.

Even fearless Keith looked unnerved by the frightening creature that watched them from above like the most grotesque of spiders. Hunk tried to get himself to stop shaking as the monster shot the newcomers a hideous sneer, opened its maw and spoke.

_“Well,well well, isssssn’t it my lucky day?”_ The monstrous alien spoke in a hissing, grating voice like fingernails scratching on chalkboard _. “I had planned on only killing the traitor and thief today, but it looksss like my sssssecondary targetsss have brought themsssssselvessss before me. Sssssavesss me a trip.”_

“Be careful guys! He’s from Lotor!” Lance yelled over to Keith and Hunk. Hunk heard Keith let out an alarmed growl at the news. It took Hunk a moment to remember that Lotor was Zarkon’s son and the one Keith and Lance had escaped from weeks ago.

_“Yesssss I come from his Majessssty’s command.”_ Hissed the creature. “I am known asssss the Hunter. _Once I have a target, nothing ever essssscapessss me. Prince Lotor wissshessss for the head of the traitor Thace.”_

“Tell the royal brat he can come and take it off himself like a true Galra!” Thace snarled, baring his fangs up at the Hunter, golden eyes sparking with rage.

Huh, Hunk could see where Keith got his temper from.

The Hunter ignored the Galran ex-soldier and focused its dangerous yellow eyes on Lance and then to Keith, hissing, _“He alssssso demands for the live capture of the Blue and Red paladinssssss.”_ The Hunter fixed its evil gaze on Hunk. _“At leasssst there is one I can sssssave as a victory meal.”_

Hunk gulped and yelled up, “NOPE! BAD IDEA! I CAN PROMISE YOU HUMANS DON’T TASTE GOOD AT ALL! YOU SHOULD SEE THE GOO WE EAT EVERYDAY!”

Keith growled and stood in front of Hunk, his crimson sword raised and ready. “You’re not going to take any of us!” In an undertone, he whispered to Hunk, “Tell Shiro and Pidge we’ll need backup.”

Hunk was already trying to get the comm-link set up. “Shiro! Pidge!” He called into the side of his helmet. All he heard was static.

The Yellow Paladin heard a dark chuckle from above.

_“Do not even bother, human.”_ The Hunter hissed, wriggling his antennas in a mocking manner. Hunk could swear he saw a bit of sparks come from their tips. _“My sssspeciesss sssspecializzzze in ussssing sssonar to block sssignalssss. Helpsssss when prey can’t call for help.”_

Hunk cursed under his breath. That explained why everyone was having a hard time getting connecting with each other on the comm-links. The closer they were to the Hunter the weaker the signal. Hunk was attempting to try and remedy the comm situation when suddenly he felt a strong grip on his arm and was forcefully pulled forward by Keith who cried out, “WATCH IT!”

Hunk heard the warning hiss of one of the Hunter’s tentacle tails jolting through the hair and narrowly missing his ear. Hunk and Keith ran towards the center of the chamber where Lance and Thace still were. Instinctively the four got back to back against one another, weapons drawn just like in all the training exercises.

Too late Hunk realized why the Hunter had attacked them. The Hunter wanted them away from the exit tunnel and the entire group together in the center to make an easier target.

“Okay does anyone have a plan?” Hunk asked, warily watching the tentacle-ish tails stretch out from behind the Hunter and slowly move towards the group, their sharpened ends gleaming.

“You and Lance shoot it down and then I slice it to pieces.” Keith said as if the answer was obvious.

“I’ve been trying to shoot it down, but my blasts aren’t affecting it. Its exoskeleton is like freaking armor plating.” Lance said, giving Keith a side glance. His expression grew stunned. “KEITH! You’re all Galra!”

Hunk couldn’t help but feel a bit amusement when Lance’s panicked eyes flickered from Keith to himself. “Don’t worry, buddy. Keith told me everything.” He told his friend in reassuringly.

Lance’s surprised expression melted into one of guilt. “I want to tell you Hunk but…”

“No,” Hunk said cutting him off, blinking warmly at his best friend. “You did the right thing. I should have— “

“PAY ATTENTION IDIOTS!” The Galra Thace roared in a gravelly voice.

Hunk and Lance turned just in time to activate their shields as the Hunter sent a barrage of tentacles down upon the paladins and the fugitive, their pointed ends gleaming dangerously. Thrace, the only one shield-less, shot his gun at an oncoming tentacle. The laser cut the tentacle in half, but the broken end hastily grew back at alarming rate, regenerating itself as if nothing had happened.

“Thace, get in the middle,” ordered Lance, not pausing from shooting his blaster, “The three of us will cover you.”

The Galran fugitive merely sneered at the suggestion, golden eyes narrowed scornfully. “I do not need protection! Especially not from humans! I can still fight!”

“Don’t be such an id-” Lance started to argue but was cut off by Keith’s annoyed growl.

“Let him go! If he wants to get himself killed let him! You shouldn’t have even gone to protect him in the first place Lance!”

“I wasn’t going to let your dad die, Keith!” Lance snapped looking offended by the thought. “He’s your family!”

Keith let out an odd noise from the back of his throat at Lance’s proclamation, but did not pause from slicing at the attacking tentacles with his sword.

“You didn’t have to go all alone though!” Hunk argued, activating his shield against a tentacle strike. He tried to blast his energy cannon at the body of the Hunter, but, like Lance had warned, once it hit the Hunter’s body, it merely left a harmless ash mark on the plating of the exoskeleton.

“Pidge or Shiro would have wondered why I wanted to go after a Galra fugitive and I might have had to tell them about Keith.” Lance explained as he aimed his gun at a tentacle and took a round of shots.

“Could have at least called me for backup, idiot!” Keith snapped, swinging his sword and slicing an approaching tentacle in half. Another took its place.

“You were with Hunk and I didn’t know you were going to spill the beans to him, did I now? And after you almost bit _MY_ head off at the very possibility of **_ME_** telling him!” Lance shot a little more aggressive than necessary at the tentacles. “You’re such a hyprocite, you know that chinchilla ears!”

“I’M SORRY! WE HAD A MOMENT!”

“REALLY? WHAT DID YOU CRADLE HUNK IN YOUR **_ARMS?”_**

“AT LEAST HUNK WOULD **_REMEMBER_** **_IT!”_**

**_“WILL YOU WHELPS STOP BICKERING AND CONCENTRATE ON KILLING THIS THING?”_** Thace snarled. He, at last, seemed to be heeding Lance’s orders and had move in the center, clutching his bleeding arm close.  As one, Hunk, Keith, and Lance scooted in closer to act as a shield against the onset of strikes from the Hunter’s tentacles. It was almost like the training exercises they always did, but ten times deadlier.

_“Give it up.”_ The Hunter called down, yellow eyes flashing with unconcealed dark amusement. _“You ssssshall all tire and falter and then I sssshall kill the fugitive, devour the yellow one and take the red and blue one to Lord Zzzzzarkon’ssss ssssson.”_

Hunk knew the monstrous alien had a point. Even though the three teammates were doing fairly well in fending off the Hunter’s precise and deadly tail attacks- especially Lance and Keith who, to Hunk’s bemusement, seemed to fight even better when they were bickering- Hunk knew that they couldn’t keep this up for too much longer. Already, there were a couple of sloppy mistakes popping up. One tentacle had managed to slice a cut across Hunk’s cheek and a good chunk of Keith’s shoulder plates had been sliced off at one point. It wouldn’t be long before one tiny mistake turned deadly. They couldn’t wait up for Shiro and Pidge to somehow find them- they had to come up with a strategy and quickly.

“If we can lure him down, I might be able to find a weak spot to stab him.” Keith suggested.

Thrace let out a mocking scoff. “Lure him down with what, whelp? He has us right where he wants us.”

Hunk saw Keith’s lips curl back to show off fangs. He looked ready to snap something at this father but Lacey quickly cut in.

“Well we don’t have to lure him. We can force him down.” Lance said. He rolled his eyes upwards and Hunk took a split second to follow his friend’s gaze up towards where the Hunter was hanging above them, his arachnid legs clinging to the giant ceiling plant.

 “I seriously doubt those plants are as durable as evil scorpion alien dude.” Lance continued to explain, “Hunk, you have the more fire power. If you can aim at the plant he’s on, maybe we can force him down to our level.”

A part of Hunk really did not fill comfortable with the idea of the Hunter actually being _closer_ to them. But he knew that both Keith and Lance had a point. At least if he was within their reach, all of them could try and find a weak a spot to defeat him. They weren’t getting anywhere just dodging attacks.

However, Hunk couldn’t help but point out, “But if he falls down, he might be dazed enough to give us a good chance to make a run for the exit.” He kinda preferred that over staying and fighting this hell alien.

It was Thace that answered back. “Fool, this creature is called the Hunter for a reason. A short fall won’t stop him for long.  We run, he’ll catch up and spear us while our backs our turned.”

Well, there went the one faint glimmer of hope Hunk had of avoiding a fight.

He let out a sigh. “Kay, cover me while I aim.”

Lance, Keith, and Thrace all moved closer to shield Hunk from any attack as he shouldered up his cannon and took aim, not at the Hunter, but right in the area where the base of the plant he was on connected with the ceiling. Sticking the tip of his tongue out and winking one eye, Hunk fired. The end of his canonized bayard erupted into a golden ray that shot upwards and it hits mark with minor explosion of rocks and splinters.

The Hunter was showered by a spray of dust and debris that caused him to momentarily pause his attack on the paladins and alien below. As the dust and smoke began to clear, Hunk heard the tell-tale creaks and cracks of the giant plant coming loose. Several roots started to snap and the giant bulbous plant, with the Hunter still clinging to its side, started to fall.  What Hunk and his team did not expect was a small portion of the stone ceiling to start coming down along with it.

“SCATTER!” Hunk yelled out a warning, running out of the way as the giant plant came falling down over their heads, bring a minor avalanche of dirt, stone, and roots along with it.

The giant cavern explode with noise- the enraged hiss of the Hunter, the earth-shaking shudder of the bulbous plant crashing to the ground, following the smaller rumblings and crashes of excess dirt and large rocks falling right after it. A cloud of dirt and dust erupted from the debris, filling the air and disabling Hunk’s vision.

The Yellow Paladin coughed the dust out of his throat and hastily called out to his teammates, hoping no one was injured, “Everyone okay?”

There was a tick of silence in which Hunk felt a bit of panic rise within his chest. But then…

“I’m alive!” came Lance’s voice, sounding quite cheerful at the fact.

There was a rough cough before Keith’s voice called out, “We’re okay too.”

As the dust started to clear, Hunk saw a hunched silhouette which slowly revealed itself to be Keith with Thrace leaning against his son for support. Hunk felt glad that despite Keith’s obvious disdain for his Galran father, he still took the time to make sure the injured ex-soldier got out of the avalanche safely.

As almost all the smoke and dust cleared up, Hunk could fully see the giant trunk of the plant, almost as big as Keith’s shack back in the desert, was now lying in a splintered, broken heap on the ground where they had all be standing only ticks before, half buried in a massive pile of rocks and rubble.

The Hunter was nowhere to be seen.

Hunk’s gut twisted in worry at this fact. He stared hard at the hill of rocks and dared to asked, “Do you think the Hunter’s buried under there?”

His question was left unanswered. He and everyone looked around cautiously, wondering whether the Hunter had scurried off to hide while the dust had momentarily blinded everyone.

After a minute or two of silence, a tiny spark of hope started to bubble up in Hunk’s chest. Maybe the Hunter had been killed or knocked out during the avalanche?

“We should make a run for it.” Hunk suggested again, hoping they’d agree this time. “Now, while we have a good chance!” He added earnestly.

_“Don’t even think about it, yellow one.”_

The hissing, malicious voice that answered caused Hunk’s face to instantly go pale. Before anyone could fully react, the top of the rubble pile burst, showering everyone with dirt and rocks as the Hunter crawled out of the rock pile, pincers snapping angrily, black tentacle tails lashing out everywhere.

Hunk shielded his face with his arm as a particularly large rock came flying at him. However the moment Hunk lowered his arm, he saw one of the tentacles coming right at him, much too quickly for Hunk to be able to defend himself from.

The air hissed as the tentacle, its sharpened edge glinted, shot down.

_This is it._ Hunk squeezed his eyes shut with a whimper, fearfully waiting for the flash of pain, the feeling of his innards behind stabbed, the end of it all.

Several things happened at once, a blur of sound and motion. Time itself stopped. Everything became the vaguest of white noise. There was only one real thing this new bizarre reality. The feeling of something- no someone- ramming into Hunk’s ribcage with enough force to knock the Yellow Paladin off his feet.

Hunk’s head collided with the ground with a loud thud and, for a moment, his world was painted a painful black and flashes of white stars. Droplets of something warm and wet splattered across his cheek. In a daze, Hunk wiped a gloved hand across it and then looked down in confusion at the bright redness staining his palm.

A terrible reality came crashing down.

Hunk bolted up and looked to where he had been standing only a tick before.

He stared, eyes stretched in horror.

Lance stared back at his friend and then looked down. He blinked, looking almost puzzled at the sight of the bloodstained tentacle sticking out of his lower body.

Hunk’s mouth opened into soundless scream.

He watched helplessly, as if trapped in a living nightmare, as the Hunter lifted his tentacle, bringing Lance along with it a short distance into the air. Then the monstrous alien lashed the appendage out like a whip and sent the Blue Paladin flying through the air. With a sickening crack, Lance slammed against the cavern wall. He crumbled to the ground like a broken doll.

He did not get up.

_“Sssssshame,”_ The Hunter hissed, his evil, yellow eyes blinking at the motionless blue form. His raspy voice held the slightest hint of annoyance. _“I wasss ssssupposssed to bring him back alive.”_

A horrific sound- something between an earth-shattering roar and strangled sob- filled the air and from the corner of Hunk’s eye, he saw a blur of red launch itself onto the back of the Hunter. Bellowing like a dying beast, Keith wildly renewed his efforts in attempting to stab his bayard through the insectoid’s hard exoskeleton, savagely attacking the armored skin like a beast gone completely mad. 

Hunk watched Thrace leap on the other side of the Hunter, helping his son by digging his claws into whatever soft flesh he could find on the monster.

The Hunter let out an angered hiss. His long, twisted body bucked and twisted, trying to shake off the two Galra. One of the tentacles sprang from the Hunter’s back, and wrapped itself around Keith’s waist. Keith whirled around and snarled, Galran fangs bared, before sinking his teeth into it.

The Hunter howled with anger. With an enraged hiss, the Hunter pulled the bitten tentacle, with Keith stilling clinging to it like a wolf on a bone, and lashed out with enough force to toss Keith a distance away. Keith hit the floor hard, head first. The clanging sound of his helmet ringing the air. The Red Paladin lay in a dazed heap, blinking in a groggy manner and looking barely conscious.

“KEITH!” Thrace raced over and stood protectively over the Red Paladin, fangs bared in a fearsome grimace at the Hunter. Despite his injuries, the adult Galra looked like he’d be willing to face the Hunter unarmed and head on to keep Keith out of his grasp.

The Hunter clicked his giant pincers in twisted amusement, gazing down at his victims from atop the rock pile. _“What to do firsssst? Kill the thief and traitor? Or kill the giant yellow one that dared to bury me alive? Decissssssionssss, decissssionssss…”_

Hunk looked between Lance, looking as still as death, and Keith, wounded and being protected by his injured father. For the first time ever, Hunk felt the shadow of the lion rise within him, hungry and furious. The Yellow Lion was growling within him, bristling and snarling, full of rage that this abomination dared to harm their pride. Hunk glared up at the monster and, for the first time ever, felt true hatred boil up within him.

Hunk placed himself between the Hunter and Lance, Keith, and Thrace were, bayard charged and pointed at the Hunter.

“Don’t dare come any closer!” Hunk hollered at the monstrous alien, glaring hatefully at it.

The Hunter laughed, golden eyes flashing with sick glee. _“The yellow one hassss fire after all! Perhapssss I sssshould take you to Lotor assss well to make up for the blue one dying?”_

At the very mention of Lance, the hatred and rage inside Hunk flared, the Yellow Lion inside roaring. “YOU’RE NOT TAKING ANYONE! YOU CAN TELL THAT DUMB PRINCE OF YOURS HE CAN’T HAVE MY FRIENDS!”

The Hunter’s large, insect eyes narrowed dangerously. _“You are in no posssssition to make demandsssss, paladin. You and your little gun can do nothing to me.”_ He gestured around the cavern with one of his tails. _“Take a look around you. Your friendsssss have fallen. You have no chance. In tickssss, I sssshall crusssssh the traitor’ssss head between my pinssssirsss. Then I ssssshall deliver you, the dead one, and the red one to the Prince. Back down now and at leassst I will take you unharmed.”_

A familiar sense of fear rose up in Hunk at the truth in the Hunter’s words. He wasn’t a fighter, not like Keith and Lance were. The odds of him beating the Hunter one on one were slim to none. But none of that mattered. Lance and Keith still needed him. So he would stand and he would fight.

Even if it meant losing horribly.

Suddenly Hunk felt something tugging him, urging him forward. It was a familiar feeling; it reminded him of laughter and explosive energy, warm closeness and earnest confidence that drove the fear and anger paralyzing his bones away like shadows fleeing light. He turned, guessing what was happening but not quite believing.

There was Lance, still lying in a heap on the ground, but his head was raised up enough for Hunk to see the gleam of familiar blue eyes watching him, silently encouraging him, almost glowing with a soft cerulean light.

Lance was extending his bond to Hunk.

And Hunk could feel every essence of it, warm and blazing inside his chest- Lance’s confidence, his immense loyalty and trust. Everything that was Lance, that made Lance the best friend Hunk had ever wished for, the teammate extending all the energy he had left to help Hunk make it through, trusting him to win this and protect him and Keith.

This was the bond synchronizing Coran and Allura had spoken of- the sharing of strength between the closest of paladins. Making his own inner’s strength, his own bond flare even stronger.

Hunk felt the sensation of his bayard shifting in his hand- not into its usual cannon form, but something completely different. He could feel his connection with Yellow- feel her digging deep into his quintessence, into his very soul, bringing forward the strength needed. The power he had as the Yellow Paladin to protect his friends, his family, and their pride.

The golden halo disappeared. Hunk looked down.

A massive, golden war hammer was gripped firmly in his fists.

The Hunter let out a cruel laugh. “ _You think sssssuch a primitive weapon will sssstrike me down?”_

Hunk glared hatefully at the laughing alien, teeth bared. He hunched his massive shoulders, growling, “How about we find out?”

Still cackling, the Hunter slid down the rock hill, its multiple eyes gleaming brightly with murderous intent.

Hunk’s face hardened. He held the gleaming weapon up, gripping his tightly with both hands and held his ground as the alien charged. His heart did not quake in fear. Hunk would not run when he still had his teammates to protect.  His bond with Yellow, with Lance and Keith, it strengthened him. He could feel it holding him as steady and firm as the very earth itself, whispering encouragingly:

_He was the Yellow Paladin. Pilot of the Yellow Lion._

The Hunter was almost upon him, insect-like legs striking the ground and tentacles lashing the air. Its’s gigantic, monstrous black was filling up Hunk’s vision. The Yellow Paladin stood his ground, dark eyes cold and hard as flint.

_Left Leg of Voltron.The Pillar of Strength and Compassion._

The hideous monstrosity was before him. Its upper body reared up like a snake, evil yellow eyes gleaming hungrily down at the puny human that still remained in its way.

**_He. Was. Unbreakable._ **

The Hunter struck down, maw stretched open and needle-sharp teeth gleaming…..

Hunk, with the encouraging roar of the Yellow Lion exploding within his mind, gathered all of his strength and, with a mighty roar of his own, reared back and swung the golden hammer, the head of the weapon erupted in a flash of blue neon light….

And it ** _struck_.**

As soon as the head of the hammer collided with the jaw of the Hunter, the weapon sprang to life, crackling and hissing with electrical bursts that surged through the monster’s body, rippling like a golden wave.

The waves of electricity caught the Hunter by complete surprise. It screamed in agony-the horrible sound echoing across the chamber. Its black tails lashed out wildly, its jaw snapped in pain. Its whole gigantic body was lit up with deadly sparks. With a mighty effect, Hunk wrenched the hammer away from the Hunter, stumbling backwards from the force and heaviness.

At once, the Hunter collapsed, his body still twitching with blue sparks. Its black, tentacle tails were limp. The stench of sizzling skin and burning flesh filled the air.

For a few ticks, Hunk stood still, chest heaving from the exhilaration of the attack and downpour of emotions reeling inside him at what had just taken place. He dropped the hammer, hands trembling. It dissolved back to its normal default bayard state. Almost timidly, Hunk approached the still twitching body of the Hunter, wondering if it was dead or not.

As the Yellow Paladin approached the ugly, triangular head of the Hunter, three of its multiple eyes opened. A rattling breath came from, its limp maw, chilling Hunk to the bone.

_“Think you’ve won, yellow fool?”_ The Hunter hissed its dying voice laced with all the hatred and loathing it could mutter. “ _Lotor will ssssend much worsssse than I. Much… much….worsssee.”_

The twitching stopped and the Hunter spoke no more.

Hunk reeled back, feeling very conflicted. As much as he loathed the vile creature that hurt his friends, a part of him still felt extremely terrible for being the direct cause of its death. As he stared at the corpse, felt no proud at in this deed, only a strange sense of bitter hollowness.

Hunk forced himself to turned his face away from the disgusting sight and turned to see how everyone else was doing. Thace was still huddled besides where Keith laid, who was starting to stir. The large Galran met Hunk’s gaze, his expression holding no emotion.

“I shall watch my son. Go to the Blue one while he still breathes.”

Hunk followed Thace’s gaze as it turned to look at Lance. His heart dropped. The Blue Paladin was face down, having not moved at all, looking as still as death. A small pool of crimson had started to form beneath his crumbled form.

“Oh no, no, no, no.” Hunk moaned shaking his head and running over to fall to his knees besides his fallen teammate. He carefully turned Lance over onto his back so he could check his injuries.

It was bad. Really bad.

There was a gaping wound in the center of Lance’s lower body where the Hunter’s tentacle had pierced through the black undersuit, still streaming out blood. His armor was dented and cracked, some off it already chipped off from the heavy blow to the wall. When Hunk pulled Lance’s helmet off, he saw dark blood matted in Lance’s hair and his normally tan face was far too pale. If it wasn’t for the very faint rise and fall of Lance’s chest, Hunk would have thought his friend as already dead.

Hunk couldn’t stop the tears from pooling from his eyes as he gazed down at his motionless best friend. He did this. This was is fault. If he had been a better fighter…if he had been a little quicker…if he and Lance hadn’t fought then Shiro may have paired them together…then maybe he could have stopped Lance from running off to fight in the first place…If only he…if only….

The Yellow Paladin shook his head. There was no time for that! He needed to help Lance!

Wishing that their suits came with medical kits or at least some bandages, Hunk did the only thing he could and used his hand to press down on Lance’s open wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

“Please, stop!”  Hunk whimpered, pressing harder on the dreadful wound. The stream of blood just continued spill through his fingers. The ground around them was now a pool of crimson. The horrid, coppery stench of it made him feel sick.

This wasn’t working. Then Hunk remembered that with the Hunter dead then the comm-links would be working now. Hunk hurried opened a link in his helmet reached out to whoever he could.

“PIDGE! SHIRO! SOMEONE ANSWER PLEASE!” Hunk all but yelled into his helmet. All the courage he had built up to face down Hunter was drained away. He was scared. So scared of losing Lance.

To his relief, Shiro’s voice came through. _“Hunk! Are you with Keith and Lance? Pidge and I haven’t been able to reach any of you. Is everything alright?”_

Hunk did not even bother to explain about the Hunter and the interference. All that was not important now. Lance was.

“Lance is hurt- he’s hurt bad guys! I-I’m afraid if I move him it’ll make it worst! He’s bl-bleeding and not responding.” Hunk hoped they could understand him through his hysterical sobs.  He thought he heard a Pidge let a far off cry, but it was Shiro’s strong voice that answered back.

_“Hunk, stay calm. Are you and Keith okay?”_

Hunk tried to calm himself enough to answer clearly. “I-I’m fine. Keith is injured, but not too badly I think.”

_“Good. Keep pressure on Lance’s wound. Don’t worry, I’m on my way with help. Allura and Coran will have a healing pod set up.”_

“Please hurry.” Hunk begged. He wanted to say more, but a low moan cut him off.  Hunk looked down to see Lance awake and staring up at his friend’s tearstain face with dull, unfocused eyes.

Hunk tried to get his lip to stop trembling. “L-Lance?”

Lance blinked at the sound of his friend’s voice and his blue gaze grew a bit clearer. A weak smile spread across his face.  “Hey Hunk.”

A small flicker of relief filled Hunk at hearing Lance able to speak.  “H-Hold up. Don’t talk, buddy.” Hunk knelt down and, as gently as possible, gathered Lance in his thick arms. Lance let out a moan of pain, but did not struggle. Or was unable to at this point. “Shiro and Pidge are on their way. We’re going to patch you up, then I’ll fly you to the Castle on Yellow and get you straight to the healing pod! Just hold on a bit longer.…”

Lance leaned his head against Hunk’s chest. “I know you will…I can…always rely on you, big guy.” He lifted his chin to gaze up at Hunk and send him a somewhat encouraging grin, but Hunk could see fear flickering in Lance’s eyes.

He was afraid. His best friend was afraid and possibly dying, but was still trying to make Hunk feel better. Coran’s words about the traits of the Blue Paladin drifted into Hunk’s mind.

_”The Blue Lion looks for pilots that are adaptable…fluid like water itself, doing whatever they can to keep the team together and strong.”_

Hunk’s heart shattered at the memory

“I’m so sorry, Lance!” All his words came out between sobs, “It’s all my fault!”

“No…not your fault, Hunk.” Lance gasped weakly, cheek pressed to Hunk’s armor. “Besides…you were able to stop it. You were so cool. The coolest.” Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. Each breath was labored. “Please don’t cry, buddy.”

“Can’t help it,” Hunk whimpered, tears rolling down his large cheeks, “You’re my best friend, Lance- my brother. I love you so much.”

Despite the pain, Lance raised his hand to rest his fingers along Hunk’s arm. He managed to give Hunk an affectionate smile.  “Me too.”

The large paladin gave a watery smile in return and sniffled loudly. He tried frantically to apply more pressure to the terrible wound but blood just continued to steadily flow through his fingers, staining the ground around them crimson. He prayed Shiro could get here soon. At this rate, there might be only a few precious ticks left.

There came a strangled whisper close by, “Lance.”

The Yellow Paladin looked away from his dying friend to see Keith, up on his feet again and still in his Galra form, approach. Blood was oozing down the side of his face, but the Red Paladin barely seemed to notice. His eyes, filled with pain and anguish, were only on Lance.

Lance’s blue eyes focused on Keith and Hunk saw in them an ocean of emotion too powerful for him to name. “Keith…”

Keith let out a low whine, dropping to his knees to kneel over Lance as Hunk continued to cradle him. Tears leaked from Keith’s golden eyes, falling like raindrops upon Lance’s cheek as he leaned close to the dying paladin.  Hunk remained silent and still- this was Keith and Lance’s moment. They needed this while there was still a chance.

Lance blinked sadly up at the weeping Galra’s face. “I’m sorry, Keith….for before. You were scared and I should…I should have understood….I was just being selfish….”

“Selfish?” Keith whimpered, a trace of outrage seeping into voice. Hunk saw his body shaking- from anger or grief, he couldn’t tell. “You…you idiot! How can you dare say that? You worked so hard to protect my secret and I…I couldn’t even admit to myself that I trusted you!” He took a deep, shuddering breath, “But I do, I trust you with my life, Lance…more than anyone in the world.”

Hunk watched Lance’s eyes grow impossibly wide, shimmering with happiness, at Keith’s words and, despite everything that had happened, a genuine grin managed to split across Lance’s face . “I knew it…Argh!” His eyes squeezed shut, face twisted in pain, and Hunk felt the body in his arms shudder violently. The Yellow Paladin stared around the chamber in a panic. _Where was Shiro?!_

A moment, or what felt more like an eternity passed, before Lance fell still once more. When Lance’s eyes opened again, his blue eyes were wet with tears. “Keith…I want you to know…

“Shut up.” Keith growled.

“You’re the best paladin Red could have ever chosen in the entire galaxy…human or not. Allura…Shiro…everyone will see it. Hunk already knows. So…please…don’t worry anymore…”

“Stop talking!”

“Thank you…so much…for bringing me to Blue, Keith.” Lance’s sides heaved with the effort to continue speaking. “I…haven’t regretted a single moment of being a paladin…of being you two’s teammate….”

“Stop talking like you’re about to die!” Keith choked out in a cracking voice. “We’re rivals, remember? Lance and Keith always neck to neck!”  The gold had fled from the red paladin’s eyes, replaced now with violet-grey pools of grief and longing. Only the Galra ears remained, pressed flat against his skull in distress. Keith began to beg, his hand clutching Lance’s tightly. “You still have to beat me, remember? We can race with our lions, just you and me, as soon as you’re better!”

“I’d really…really love that…” Lance whispered, voice growing fainter and fainter with each word. Hunk saw the rise and fall of his chest begin to slow and realized the end was near. His heart twisted with agony.

Keith seemed to sense it as well. A desperate plead escaped his lips. “Lance…no…” He pressed his forehead against Lance’s with a trembling sob. “Stay with me.”

“I will…” Lance promised, the light in his blue eyes starting to fade. “…trust me…” 

With a sigh as soft as an ocean breeze, the Blue Paladin’s eyes closed and his head fell limp against Hunk’s chest.

And it was Hunk who felt his best friend’s heart beat one last time before it fell into everlasting silence.

 


	13. ...The Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Yellow and Red Paladin mourn and the Galra fugitive carries the answer to their prayers...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEARS! Now please stop sending me death threats for the last chapter.xP

Hunk began to tremble. “Lance.” He whispered fearfully. When only silence answered him, he cried out louder, voice cracking. “LANCE!”

The blue paladin did not move. There was no rise and fall to his chest. Even the flow of blood from the wound had begun to slow down sluggishly. Hunk tried to reach out to feel the strong bond that had connected him to Lance during the battle, but there was nothing. Only hollow emptiness. No matter how Hunk’s aching heart tried to grasp at some small thread of hope, he couldn’t deny the terrible, heart-wrenching truth.

Lance, the loyal and trusting Blue Paladin, his most beloved and dearest friend, was dead.

“Oh, Lance… _Lance_.” Hunk whimpered and bowed his head in sorrow, sniffling pitifully.  He looked to Keith- the Galra halfing had his head lowered, his shaggy black hair covering his face. But Hunk could hear the strangled breathing and knew Keith was fighting to hold himself together.

 Hunk understood- it felt as if his own body was a sliver away from falling apart. Like if one of own legs had been ripped off.

_But it’s true isn’t it?_ Hunk realized, wiping his eyes. Voltron’s right leg was gone forever.

He tried not to imagine how everyone would react when they brought Lance back. It was too unbearable to even think about how heartbroken they’d all be. Pidge would lose another big brother, Coran a son-like figure, Shiro a little brother, and Allura a dear friend.  Lance with his confidence, his optimistic energy, and his occasional charm, had brought laughter and a sense of hope and normalcy to the team. What would he do now? What would any of them do now?

Hollow with grief, Hunk absent-mindedly wiped away a trail of blood from the corner of Lance’s mouth with his thumb. Now it looked like Lance was just sleeping. It helped just a bit.

“It’s my fault.” Keith speaking at last in a hoarse whisper. He lifted his head up, and Hunk saw the expression of someone completely shattered. His violet, bloodshot eyes stared blankly up at the Yellow Paladin.

At Keith’s statement, a tiny part of Hunk fired up, wanting to agree with him. Wanted to yell at the Red Paladin and screamed how it was completely his fault, him and his Galran secrets that Lance had died in a cold, dark cavern, next to an already rotting alien corpse, thousands of light years away from the warm home and family waiting for him back on Earth. Hunk knew that only a day ago he would have completely blamed Keith for this entire terrible mess.

But not now. Throwing blame at a singular person would not help anyone. It was Keith’s fault. It was Hunk’s fault. It was Lance’s fault. It was the tiny faults of everyone involved that led to this horrific situation.

Hunk extended his arm, placing a comforting hand on Keith’s trembling shoulder. “Keith…no. Hunter and Lotor did all this. Not you.” The Yellow Paladin swallowed the painful lump in his throat and added hoarsely, “If anything it’s my fault- he jumped in to save me.”

“No, you’re wrong!” Keith snapped. His shoulders began to shake and he let out little noises that were a mix of growls and heart-wrenching sobs. “The only reason he ran off without help was to protect my Galra secret! Everything Lance has had to suffer through is because I was too much of a coward to tell anyone what I really was- a monster!

“Keith, stop. Lance helped you because he cared about you…more than you could ever believe. You didn’t make him do anything. You’re not a monster.” Hunk tried to tell him, but Keith was too consumed by self-hatred to be comforted by anything the Yellow Paladin said.

“Yes I am!” Any illusion of composure Keith had left had fallen apart. Tears streamed down the Red Paladin’s face, flowing over the marks of purple starting to spread.  His large, fur-tipped ears were pinned down against his skull as his cried of anguish that echoed throughout the chamber. 

 “LANCE IS DEAD BECAUSE I ME! I KILLED HIM! IT’S ALL MY FAULT!  I WAS AN IDIOT! _I WAS A GOD DAMN COWARD!_ **_HE’S GONE BECAUSE OF ME!_** ”

“He’s gone…” Keith repeated in a whisper, his breath shuddering with choking emotion, “because of me.”…now I’ll never be able to tell him…he’ll never know how much I….”  Keith pressed the back of his hand against his eyes, a futile attempt to stem the tears and was too overcome to say anything more, merely letting out shaky sobs. Hunk wanted to reach out and pull his friend into a comforting hug but was too overcome with his own grief to move.

“No. He’s not.” A rough voice called. “Not yet.”

 It was Thace. In Hunk’s haze of grief, he had forgotten all about the Galran fugitive. The former soldier of Zorkan was kneeling besides the gigantic corpse of the Hunter, right now near where the waist would be. Hunk hadn’t noticed during the battle, but the Hunter had had a belt wrapped around himself with several little punches attached. Thace was digging through each one frantically, tossing several items aside with no care at all. At last, the Galra seemed to find what he had been looking for by the way his tufted ears- so similar to Keith’s- perked up.

Hunk saw his clawed hand wrap around something before he stood up and started to limp towards them, his yellow eyes flashing. “Move aside!” He ordered.

Hunk instinctively clutched Lance’s body even closer, wary of the alien, even if he was related to Keith. Beside him, Keith let out a vicious hiss, lips curled and fangs bared at his father. “DON’T TOUCH HIM!”

“For once be silent and do as you’re told!” Thace growled to his son, his voice full of frustration. “Do you want this human to live or not?”

“He’s already dead.” Hunk told, his voice breaking slightly as the horrible words left his mouth. “T-There’s nothing we can do….is there?” There was something so determined –so Keith like- in Thace’s expression that something akin to hope dared flicker ever so hesitantly. The Yellow Paladin noticed a glimmer of something gold spark within Thace’s fist.

His curiosity was peaked. “What is that?” Hunk asked, eyes widening slightly as he stared at the object. It was a vial of some kind –how on earth it survived the electrical shock Hunk had no clue- but he could sense that whatever substance was inside the vial was not normal. It was golden in color and let out a soft glow. It looked oddly familiar…

Hunk felt Keith stiffen beside him. He looked at the Red Paladin and saw a look of shock stretched upon his face.

“I…I’ve seen that stuff before.” He stammered, his voice, so raw with grief, sounded stunned. “It’s that….quint…quint-thingy.”

“Quintessence.” Thace corrected drily, though Hunk could swear there was a hint of a fond smirk twitching on his serious face.

Then it clicked to Hunk. He had seen than stuff, back before the paladins had all been separated, before Allura had been captured by Zarkon. He, Keith, and Lance had seen Galran drones shipping large tanks full of the stuff at one of the bases. None of them had known what it was though apparently Keith must have found out at some point.

“What does it do? Why did the Hunter have it?” Hunk demanded.  He knew faintly that Allura had mentioned quintessence in passing once or twice, but the way she’s worded it, he’d thought it’d be a more spiritual thing, not a physical substance.  

“It healed my hand when I got burnt.” Keith answered quietly.

Thace let out a scoffing snort at the simple answer. “It does more than that, whelp. This vial is worth more than all three of us put together. It’s life energy in concentrated form- impossible to get without the magic of Druids. The Hunter has it because he took it from me because I stole it from the brat prince Lotor. It was my bargaining tool to escape from Zarkon and Lotor’s reach until my cowardly hosts were scared off by the Hunter.”

So that explained why the Lyroliceans were keeping Thace- they had offered him a safe haven from the Lotor in hopes of getting their paws on some of the quintessence. However, Hunk guessed that when the Hunter showed up, the Lyroliceans deemed even the quintessence wasn’t worth the trouble and left Thace to fend for himself, perhaps in hopes the Hunter would leave once Thace was dead.

Hunk’s musings were cut off by a strangled voice.

“Will…Could it help Lance?”  Keith asked Thace in a small voice, sounding almost like a young, frightened child. It was the first time Hunk heard Keith speak to his father in a voice not laced in disdain. Hunk saw Keith’s gloved, blood-caked hand tighten around Lance’s cold, limp one.

Thace flick one ear, he too probably noticing the subtle, tender gesture. Though his expression remained neutral, when he spoke his voice was soft, almost kind even. “I am not certain, Keith. But if this stuff can keep Lord Zarkon alive and powerful for ten thousand years, I imagine it will do something.”

That was enough for Hunk. “Then hurry and give it to him!” Hunk demanded, all his patience gone. Normally he would be more cautious about giving strange medicine to any of his friends, but Lance was _dead._ There was literally nothing left to lose at this point.

Keith said nothing but stared at his father with pleading, desperate eyes. Thace needed no other bidding than that. The Galra knelt down besides Hunk who couldn’t help but stiffen at being so close to a species that was usually trying to kill him.

Thace either didn’t notice or did not care- his eyes were narrowed into thin golden slits as he pulled the vial out and unscrewed the top. His violet, furred face was momentarily ignited with a golden hue. Hunk leaned back to allow Thace to extend the vial over the gruesome wound around Lance’s stomach. Thace poured a good amount of the pale golden liquid into the injury. He then reached over and poured the rest over Lance head where there was blood caked in his hair. When the last drop was gone, Thace leaned back and stared intensely at Lance’s motionless body, waiting and watching.

Hunk and Keith did the same, hearts thumping together in nervous unison.

For a few ticks nothing happened and Hunk felt soul-crunching despair start to seep inside his heart once more, deeper and even more painful than before.

And then there was light.

Hunk stared, his dark brown eyes reflecting gold, as Lance’s open wounds began to radiance with a soft, pale gold light. Hunk’s breath was taken away by the sight.

For what seemed like eternity, Hunk and Keith’s faces were alight with a halo of gold as they leaned close and watched, in memorized amazement as the skin began to miraculously heal itself, stitching itself amidst ripples of celestial light. Deep within the depths of Hunk’s mind, he could feel a faint bond, once broken and gone, but now cindering, sparking, and now blazing once more. It expanded and stretched until Hunk could feel it, warm, familiar, and comforting from every inch of his body.

And with that everything stopped. The golden glow disappeared, letting darkness settle upon them once more. Lance remained motionless, still covered with his own blood, but his wounds closed and unblemished.

Neither Hunk, Keith, or even Thace dared take a breath…dared to even blink. All three individuals, so vastly different from one another, all in that moment, in that tick, were having the same troubling thought.

Did it work?

The silence stretched for ticks, for weeks, for years it seemed to Hunk’s numb mind. At last Hunk, his heart unable to bear it any longer, spoke in a scared, trembling whisper that hung in the air, as fragile as glass. “Lance?”

Silence. Terrible, terrible silence.

And then the body in Hunk’s arms shuddered and let out a loud, shaking intake of breath. Hunk tried not to shake himself as Lance’s blue eyes shot open, wide, terrified, and confused, staring at nothing. He found himself saying Lance’s name once more, and Lance’s gaze met with Hunk’s.

Lance blinked wearily up at the Yellow Paladin, looking disoriented. “Hunk?” he whispered weakly.

Hunk was too choked up with emotion to even say anything back, tears already starting to leak from the corners of his eyes. His friend was alive….Lance was alive…..

The smile that broke across Keith’s face was brighter than any star Hunk had ever seen. Not even bothering to keep his composure in front of Hunk and Thace, Keith pulled Lance out of the yellow paladin’s arms with a choking sob and pressed him to his own chest, shamelessly nuzzling the side of Lance’s face in affectionate relief. Hunk watched his friend’s chinchilla like ears twitch rapidly with obvious joy.

“Couldn’t wait to have me cradled in your arms?” Lance asked still sounding tired and confused at what was going on, but had a teasing smile stretched upon his face.

“You better not forget it this time.” Keith growled, his wet, tear-stained face half buried in Lance’s scruffy, brown hair.

Hunk watched Lance smile and tilt his head up to gently brush his nose against Keith’s cheek. “Me? Never.”

Happiness and relief erupt through Hunk like an explosion. He couldn’t help but burst into a fresh wave of tears and pull both Keith and Lance into a tight embrace sobbing happily.

“Don’t EVER do that again, Lance! My heart can’t take it- it really can’t.”  Hunk cried, hugging his friends as tightly as he dared considering the injuries. “I mean it! If you do I’ll…I’ll…never cook you a meal again! Only Coran will be able to touch your plate!”

The Yellow Paladin felt warm breath on his neck as Lance gave a tired chuckle, affectionately pressing his forehead to Hunk’s shoulder. “Sounds a bit counter-productive, doncha think, big guy? Want me to die of poison?”

“If Coran doesn’t poison you, then I’ll smother you in your sleep if you ever do anything like that again.” Keith growled softly, his voice slightly muffled as his face was buried between Hunk’s arm and Lance’s shoulder blade.

Lance made an offended sound at the statement but Hunk silenced  it by pressing his best friend even closer, nudging his forehead to the side of Lance’s head, ignoring the dried blood. “I’m so happy you’re alright, Lance.” He whispered hoarsely, choking back the emotion bubbling up in his throat, “I thought you were gone.”

The Blue Paladin pressed closer to Hunk, smiling warmly despite the stray tears that fell from his own eyes,  “Nah, you’re pretty much stuck with me, big guy.”

Hunk sniffed loudly, nuzzling the top of Lance’s head. “Good.”

As Hunk basked in his best friend’s warm, breathing presence, he felt the other body in his arms slip out of his bear hug. He watched Keith shuffle a bit closer to Thace who had been watching the heartwarming reunion in a stoic silent. Keith’s ears were lowered and his expression on his face almost looked bashful as he stopped an arm’s length away from father.

“Thank you,” Keith told him, quietly but sincerely. “For saving Lance. It…It really means a lot....dad.”

Hunk watched Thace’s golden eyes widen considerably at Keith’s words, especially at being called ‘dad’. He wondered if this was first time Keith had ever addressed Thace by that title.

Thace gave his son a long, meaningful look. “He came to fight for me. Galra hold respect for those of bravery and fighting spirit.” The Galra’s blinked and gave his son a truly fond smile. “Plus, I wasn’t going to let my own son’s mate die.”

Hunk held back a laugh as Lance spluttering out what sounded like objections, but came out as gibberish, his face flushed red while Keith stared at his father, jaw hanging open and purple cheeks turning dark maroon with embarrassment.

Keith’s voice cracked in a truly magnificent manner as he screeched out, “LANCE AND I ARE NO-“

“HUNK! KEITH!”

Shiro’s voice echoed down the tunnel, drawing steadily closer alongside the sound of running footsteps.

As one, the three paladins froze and shared a look of pure horror.

Oh shit, they forgot about Shiro.

Hunk shot Keith a glance, seeing the Red Paladin was still harboring his Galra features and quickly called out, “Keith, _ears_.” As much as Hunk hated having to keep this a secret a little longer, the last thing he needed today was for Shiro to accidentally attack Keith thinking he was an enemy Galra.

Keith looked surprised by Hunk’s warning (probably because it was Hunk and not Lance giving it), but quickly nodded and shifted back to his human self, purple skin melting to a pale peach, grey-violet overtaking gold, and ears losing their fluff. However, Hunk realized that the other Galra in the room did not have the same option.

Thace, sensing this as well, began to stand up. “I need to depart. The Champion will…”

But it was too late. Shiro came running into the chamber as if his feet were on fire. However, did not take but a few quick ticks for the Black Paladin to skid to a complete stop and stare at the scene before him.

Hunk quickly realized, just by the terrible expression on Shiro’s face, that the entire cavern must look like a scene straight out of a horror movie: from the giant monster corpse still slightly smoking in the center of the chamber, the debris littered everywhere, the ground stained crimson with Lance’s blood.

Shiro’s dark eyes, stretched wide with horror, soon focused solely on the younger paladins huddled on the floor, particular on Lance still being held in Hunk’s arms. Hunk saw Shiro’s gaze flicker over their blood-soaked armor and the Black Paladin almost seemed to choke, his entire body flinching back with a distressful groan of, “Lance…”

Then the white-streaked paladin noticed Thace for the first time. A full-grown Galra in a room full of carnage and injured teammates just made everything fall into place. Hunk watched with growing dread as  murderous rage flooded Shiro’s gaze and his Galran arm lit up to a deadly violet.  With a blood-thirsty roar worthy of the Champion, Shiro charged forward to slice open the creature responsible for harming his companions.

As Thace made to stumble back, growling, Hunk called out to Shiro in a panic, “NO! WAIT! LANCE IS OKAY! THAT GUY…”

Shiro was not listening, his mind to fixated on terminating the Galran threat in front of him. It was only when Keith leapt out to stand in Shiro’s path, shielding Thace with his body, did Shiro stumble to a confused halt.

“Calm down Shiro! He’s on our side!” Keith snapped heatedly spreading his arms out to block Shiro from moving forward.

Shiro blinked rapidly, staring down at Keith in disbelief. He alternated  between looking at Keith to glaring viciously over Keith’s shoulder at Thace, who bared his fangs and growled back, purple fur bristling. Shiro’s Galran arm continued to glow brightly as he asked, “Wasn’t he the one that hurt you three?”

Hunk pointed a thumb at the putrid corpse of the Hunter. “Actually, the big bug monster was the one that attacked us, Shiro. That Galra, Thace, helped us beat him and save Lance.” The Yellow Paladin chose not to mention his relation to Keith. He caught the Red Paladin blinking gratefully in his direction.

Shiro still looked unconvinced until Lance gingerly sat up a bit, wincing in pain as he did so, to shoot his leader a reassuring smile, “Yeah, what they said…I think. Not sure what he did actually.” he added with a puzzled tilt of his head.  Blue Paladin probably had no recollection of them using the quintessence to revive him. Hunk be sure to fill him in later.

Hunk saw overwhelming relief immediately flood Shiro’s face hearing Lance speak and seeing him move.

“Lance...you’re…I thought…. _oh thank god_.” Hunk had never heard Shiro sound so choked up. Hunk realized just how much of a nervous wreck their leader must have been after receiving Hunk’s sobbing message. Shiro had probably torn himself up with worry trying to find them. Hunk could barely imagine how distraught Shiro must have felt upon coming in here and seeing Lance limp and covered in blood, thinking he had been too late….

Shiro’s finally disengaged his metallic arm and gave himself a quick shake to recollect himself and bring order to this chaotic situation. “Okay…okay…there’s obviously a lot of explaining to do.” Shiro said, breathing deeply through his noise. “But first thing’s first- how injured is everyone?”

Hunk immediate answered, “I’m fine- just some cuts and bruises. Lance lost a lot of blood but Thace closed off his injuries at least. Keith I think has a concussion- he hit his head pretty hard.”

“He has broken ribs as well, I’m quite positive.” Thace added in his gravelly voice. Now that Shiro wasn’t charging at him with a glowing, deadly arm, the Galra seemed a bit calmer though his body was still tense and ears kept flickering in lookout.

Keith made an annoyed noise, but Shiro ignored it to shoot Thace a nod of not quite gratitude, but at least acknowledgement.

“And Thace, the Galra who helped us, has an arm that’s pretty cut up.” Hunk finished, making sure to emphasis the words ‘helped’.

Shiro nodded to Hunk and then jerked his head in the direction of the monster corpse. “I assume that’s…?”

Hunk shot the Hunter’s body a scathing look, unable to keep the anger out of his voice as he replied, “Yep, that’s the thing that was scaring the Lyroliceans. It came to hunt down Thace…and well…actually it’s a pretty long story.”  Now that the danger had relatively passed and the adrenaline was wearing out, Hunk realized just how exhausted he was. There was just too much to take in right now- Hunk was still trying to wrap his head around everything that had just happened.

Thankfully, Shiro seemed to understand. There would be time for explanation later.  He nodded briskly and turned his attention to his helmet, sending a quick message into the comm-links. “Guys, I found them….No, don’t worry, Pidge, Lance is going to be fine…No, Katie, I am not just saying to make you feel better…”

Hunk hastily turned his own comm-link on and connected with Shiro’s. “Lance really is okay, Pidge!” He felt his heart twist with pain at hearing the Green Paladin sniffling through the audio- he must have scared her so bad with his earlier message. “Here, Lance say something please!”

“Hey Pidge.” Lance called out, trying to raise his voice enough for Pidge to hear.

Everyone within five feet all winced when Pidge’s shrieked out in a voice full of anger and tears, “ _YOU BETTER BE ALREADY DEAD WHEN YOU GET UP HERE OR ELSE I’LL KILL YOU MYSELF FOR PULLING THAT STUPID STUNT **, LANCE SANCHEZ MCCLAIN!** ”_

While everyone, including Thace, openly gaped, Lance just smiled fondly, “I love you too, Pidge. Sorry for scaring you.”

**_“I HATE YOU!!”_ **

_“Pidge!”_ Allura’s voice crackled on the line _, “Save that for later! Shiro is the threat eliminated?”_

“Yes,” Shiro answered, “The Galra are gone as well. The Lyroliceans should be safe. But we need a couple healing pods up and running. Everyone down here needs one.” With a side glance to Thace, Shiro quietly added, “And…um…get a cell ready. We have a Galran special guest that we’re bringing up with us.”

Thace hissed angrily, but Keith placed a hand on the older Galra’s shoulder which mollified him for the moment. Hunk could tell that Thace knew he had no other choice here. Lotor would send more bounty hunters after him, the Lyroliceans would probably not welcome him after this fiasco, and he had no more quintessence to bargain with for safe passage anywhere else. Being a prisoner of Voltron was his best option.

There was tense silence on the other end of the commlink. Then Allura answered once more, her voice tense and cutting _, “Understood. The Castle has landed on the surface and have the healing pods and a cell ready for when you all arrive.”_

_\-------------------------------------------------_

It took a bit of time to get back to the Castle of the Lions. Both Hunk and Shiro had to support Lance, who, despite being healed, was still very weak from blood loss, the entire way. Keith too, despite earlier arguing that he needed no assistance, winding up having to lean on Thace for much of the return trek down the tunnels, his concussion starting make him become dizzy. Thace did not mind, though Hunk could see Shiro shooting the Galra suspicious glares quite often. Hunk himself could feel himself start to limp and sag with exhaustion, all his energy draining out.

By the time they reached the surface, Hunk could hardly even understand anything the gathered Lyroliceans were saying. Their squeaky voices and furry faces all melted together. He let Shiro do all the talking and just continued to stumble himself and Lance towards where the majestic Castle of the Lions loomed in the distance. He felt someone- Coran maybe?- take Lance’s weight off him He almost panicked and tried to reach out for his buddy, but a small hand- warms and very familiar- grabbed hold of his and started to tug him away. He obediently followed.

The journey into the Castle and up to the infirmary was really all a blur. Hunk felt the small hands push him forward, and he stepped up into a tall cylinder of glass.  The last thing he heard before his world became a silence haze of darkness and chilled frost was Pidge’s warm voice.

“Thanks for taking care of him, Hunk. Come out soon, okay?”

Hunk closed his eyes.

_Okay._


	14. ...The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the three Paladins awaken and are confronted and a Truth is finally revealed to all....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNK!!!

When Hunk came to his senses, he was caught by surprise by the gush of chilled air that greeted him upon gaining consciousness. Unlike Lance, he’d never had to go in the healing pod before so it was a new experience stumbling out as the glass door slid open for him and feeling quite disoriented.  He blinked sluggishly around him, adjusting his eyes. Luckily the lights in the infirmary were quite dim- it was probably quite late right now. Hunk wondered how long he had been in the pod.

“Coran said you’d probably be the first one out.” Came a chirping voice. Hunk then noticed for the first time that Pidge had been standing off to one side of the pod. She was out of armor and holding up a cup of a steaming liquid with a smile on her face. “You feeling alright?” she asked.

Hunk smiled at his short companion. “I’m a bit tired, but otherwise I’m fine. Only had a few bruises and cuts to begin with though.” He frowned, suddenly remembering the others. “How’s Lance and Keith?”

Pidge gestured to some pods along the side of the walls. Upon closer inspection, Hunk could see Lance and Keith resting peacefully inside, still running through their healing cycle.

“They’re fine.” Pidge told him, probably sensing his worry. “They shouldn’t be too much longer.” She extended her arm, offering the steaming beverage to Hunk. “Here. Figure you’d want something in your stomach when you came out.”

“Thanks, you know me too well.” Hunk gratefully took warm drink and looked down at it. It was a deep red color and had rich smell. Even so, Hunk sipped rather cautiously. To his delight, it tasted like spiced apples. He greedily down half of it, enjoying how it warmed his insides and drove away the chilly frost that lingered after a stay the healing chamber.

The short paladin smiled at her friend’s reaction to the tea-like beverage. “Knew you’d enjoy it. One of the many gifts from the gerbil aliens for the slaying the big scorpion alien.” Her smile faded into a grimace. “I saw the corpse- that thing looked terrible. It must have put up a huge fight.”

Hunk’s gut churned at the very mention of the Hunter. He settled down on one of the steps and glance over at the healing pods still containing Keith and Lance. “You could say that again. Still can’t believe we survived.”

Pidge took a seat next to Hunk and pressed against his side, pressing her forehead against his arm. “What happened down there?” she asked quietly.

Hunk wrapped his arm comfortingly around Pidge’s small shoulders, drawing her close. “That monster was sent by that Galra prince that Keith and Lance ran into a while back. He wanted the Galra fugitive dead.”

“You mean Thace?” Pidge piped up. “The same one that Keith and Lance were talking about ages ago?”

Hunk nodded. “Surprisingly yeah. Where is he anyway?”

“He’s in a healing pod in the lower chambers- one of the same ones Sendak was kept in.” Pidge answered. “He might be awake. If he is then Allura or Shiro will be grilling him. They already got done talking to the Lyrolicean leader.”

Hunk chewed his bottom lip worriedly. He hated that Thace had to be a prisoner after he’d sacrificed a lot to save Lance. He only hoped that he, Lance, and Keith could try and convince Shiro and Allura to at least let Thace have a bit of freedom.

His thoughts were interrupted when Pidge asked a question that Hunk was dreading to answer.

“How come Lance wasn’t bleeding when you guys brought him up?” Pidge asked. Hunk noticed as she glanced away that her eyes looked red and swollen. “From your message it seemed….it seemed Lance was hurt really bad.”

Hunk swallowed thickly and glanced down at the floor. “He…He was.” The Yellow Paladin admitted. He fiddled with his fingers debating on how much to tell Pidge. “Thace managed to save him with some quintessence. We would have lost Lance without him.”

He heard a quiet, heartbreaking sniffle come from the small paladin. “I should have went after the idiot. I was his partner- if he’d died it would have been my fault.” Pidge cried, wiping away some spare tears with the back of her hand.

Hunk gave her a comforting squeeze. “Pidge, you are the last person anyone would be blame if anything happened to Lance. You have literally saved all our asses more times than I can count- _especially_ Lance’s.”

“He’s so stupid.” Pidge snapped, sniffling. “He beats Matt by a long shot in the dumbest brother reward.”

Hunk smiled sympathetically. “I think Lance would actually consider that a compliment.”

“I’m gonna punch him when he comes out.” Pidge declared. Hunk could see that she was starting to feel better. “Do you know why he left without telling anyone?” She shot him a sharp look. “Does it have anything to do with Keith’s secret?”

Hunk sucked in a sharp breath. “Yeah…it does.”

Pidge stared at him, her hazel eyes narrowing suspiciously. “….And you know why?”

Hunk started to chew his lip again. “Umm….Keith kinda told me everything.”

“WHAT?!” Pidge jumped up, eyes wide and bright. “You know!? What is it?”

“Whatever happened to respecting the secrets of others?!” Hunk sputtered out, staring in shock at the Green Paladin.

Pidge glared at her teammate. “That was before the stupid secret almost got all three of you killed! Now spill it Hunk!”

Hunk shook his head. “Nope! You’re going to have to ask Keith when he comes out. I already almost ruined two friendships in the last 48 hours- I’m not going risk it!”

Pidge bristled and huffed, crossing her arms in pouty manner but relented. “Fine! I’ll just have to bother Keith until his emo butt tells me everything!”

Hunk couldn’t help be pull a small smile. “Even if I can’t tell you the secret, I’ll let you in on this- when you do find out, you’ll feel really stupid that you didn’t think about it before.”

Pidge threw her hands up in annoyance.  “Don’t tell me that! Now that’s all I’m going to be guessing all day!”

Hunk figured Pidge would have probably ranted some more if the tell-tale hiss of one of the healing pods opening hadn’t interrupted them. Lance stepped out of the mist, blinking and rubbing his eyes.

Happiness bubbled up inside Hunk at the sight of his best friend. He started to stand up, “Lanc-”

Hunk was cut off by Pidge rushing past him towards Lance. Lance, seeing her dashing towards him, threw his arms open expecting a hug. Instead, Pidge punched him in the stomach.

The Yellow Paladin winced at the pained grunt Lance made. The lanky Blue Paladin was hunched over, holding his stomached and groaning in pain.

“Q-Quiznak, Pidge!” Lance moaned. “Gonna send me back into the pod?”

Pidge let out an unsympathetic huff. “You deserve it after running away from me!” Her expression softened at the hurt looked Lance shot her and she wrapped her arms around Lance, pressing her face into his chest. “Don’t do it again, okay?”

Lance hugged Pidge tightly pressing his tan cheek to the top of her soft, hazel hair. “I won’t- I’ll be too afraid of angering my favorite green gremlin.”

Hunk heard the hiss of the third healing pod opening and went over to watch over Keith as he stepped out, looking around and blinking, wariness filling his purple eyes.

“Hunk?” Keith said spotting the large paladin coming towards him. “Is Lance okay?”

Hunk held back a huff of laughter. Of course Lance would be the first think Keith asked about. Hunk gestured towards behind him where Lance and Pidge were still embracing. “Don’t worry, buddy-he’s fine. How about you?”

Keith reached up to gingerly touch the side of his head where his wound had been. “Good I guess. Where’s Shiro and everyone?”

Hunk glanced back to make sure Pidge was still preoccupied with Lance before leaning in close to quietly answer Keith. “Pidge mentioned they might be questioning your dad. I’m pretty sure we’ll have to do a lot of explaining once they find out we’re awake.”

Keith nodded grimly. “Yeah…”

Neither had to say what was pressing heavily upon their minds.

Hunk placed a large, comforting hand on Keith’s shoulder. “You know whatever happens, Lance and I will have your back, no matter what.- you know that right?”

Keith closed his eyes and allowed himself to lean on Hunk’s shoulder, quietly soaking up the warmth the Yellow Paladin had to offer. “I know,” he quietly answered, “And thanks.”

Hunk nodded, smiling. He wanted to say something more to ease Keith’s fears but did not have enough time to before there came the sounds of approaching footsteps. All four young paladins looked up to see Coran approach. His normally cheerful face had an oddly nervous expression upon it.

“Ah, good all of you are awake! Excellent news!”  Coran greeted them with a smile, though it did not quite meet his eyes. “I’m sure all of you are hungry after that rather hectic mission. Fear not! I shall a large meal already.” He paused and the mustache drooped as he frowned. “But first Allura and Shiro want a word with you three. Best go change and meet them in the control room.”

Hunk shared an uneasy glance with both Keith and Lance. His own fear was reflected in their eyes. Even Pidge looked anxious for them.

It was time for the face the music.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hunk thought he’d witnessed Shiro being angry when he and Lance had been caught fighting. But that was Shiro just being a disappointed leader and a concerned friend.

But this…. _this_ was angry Shiro.

“I can’t believe you three would be so insane as to go after that monster by yourselves! I gave you all one order- DO. NOT. ENGAGE!” Shiro yelled, his dark eyes blazing as he stood before Hunk, Keith, and Lance. All three boys winced at the volume of Shiro’s voice and the rage filling it. Even Coran and Pidge, who were watching from against the windows of the control room looked nervous. Only the Princess looked unsympathetic to their plight, hovering silently behind Shiro to observe.

Lance timidly shuffled forward. “Shiro, don’t blame Hunk and Keith. It was all my fault, I…”

“Lance, don’t start!” Shiro snapped, whirling around to glare so furiously at Lance that blue paladin cowered in fright. “How could you be so reckless!? You were…you almost…We all thought…” The black paladin couldn’t even get the words out, the anger on his face melting into an expression of pure distress as if Shiro was flashing back to the memory of running into the blood-drenched cavern. Hunk knew at once that all Shiro’s anger just stemmed from how scared he had been about their safety.

Allura, who had been standing and watching from a short distance, decided to step in. “What Shiro means to say is that all three of your actions have caused unnecessary distress and resulted in terrible injuries that could have been easily been avoided.” She sent a sharp glare in Lance’s direction. “Lance, you in particular are at fault! You deliberately abandoned your post, leaving Pidge by herself and causing the rest of your team to go after you! That is not the actions of a Paladin!”

The Blue Paladin stared down at the ground, looking thoroughly ashamed for causing everyone so much worry and pain. Hunk felt sorry that his best friend was being scolded so harshly, especially since he knew Lance had good reasons for his actions, but it was not for the Yellow Paladin to say so he remained tight-lipped and silent. He peeked over at Keith and saw the Red Paladin’s face was pinched tight, obviously just as uncomfortable as he was with Lance being yelled at.

Shiro spoke up again. “Lance, we spoke with the Galra Thace. He said you came to help him, but would not say how you knew of him.  Is it true that you left Pidge to go find Thace?”

Lance hesitated for a tick or two before answering quietly. “Yes.”

“And how do you know about him?”

“I met him when we were all separated.”

Hunk watched Shiro and Allura share a glance, their expressions hard. He felt his stomach sink for Lance.

“And you didn’t think this was something worthy of sharing with us?” Allura asked in a cold tone, a voice of a strict ruler and commander. “Why was our prisoner so keen on not sharing with us how he knew of you? Why did you not even mention to Pidge or any one of your teammates where you off to?”

Lance chewed his bottom lip and remained silent, staring at the ground. Hunk could see him slightly trembling.

Allura’s icy glare intensified. “Lance, I am not asking as a friend. I am demanding you as your Princess to tell me why you risked your own life and the lives of Hunk and Keith to save a fugitive! An Galran fugitive of all things!”

“BECAUSE HE’S MY DAD!”

In instant after Keith’s outburst, all sound seem to go mute within the control room. Hunk watched, with a dry mouth and thundering heart, as slowly every head turned away Lance and focused on Keith, who was glaring angrily up at Allura. Every eye in the room was wide with surprise, except Lance’s and Hunk’s who both simply looked horrified.

Lance instantly threw himself at Keith, slapping a hand over raven-haired paladin’s mouth. “Don’t listen to this guy!” said the Blue Paladin with a hysterical, panicked laugh. “He had a head injury! He doesn’t know what he’s saying!”

Keith roughly shook Lance away, growling viciously. “YES I DO! I’m not going to let you get in trouble for me anymore, Lance! You almost died because my stupid secret and I’m not going to risk it happening again!”

“Are you sure about this, Keith?” Hunk asked, not wanting Keith to feel forced. Even he wasn’t sure how everyone was going to react.

Keith fixed Hunk with a hard stare. “I’m the Red Paladin. I’m done being a coward about this.”

At last Shiro seemed to gain the ability to speak. The Black Paladin took a step towards the Keith, eyes brimming with confusion and concern. “Keith, what are you tal-” The white-streaked leader trailed off, mouth hanging open in shock as Keith began to change right in front of them all.

Despite having seen it already, Hunk still found himself staring as Keith began to shift. It was such an odd sight to see Keith’s pale skin melt into a shocking violet and to see his ear spring up suddenly adorned with fluff and fur.

Keith opened his eyes to reveal stunning gold. His lips curled slightly into a snarl, showing off his fangs. “There! The secret’s out! I’m half Galra and that guy in the cell below is my dad! That’s why Lance went to save him. Do with me what you will- I don’t care anymore.”

Once again, a shocked silence fell over the control room but much, much heavier than before. Hunk stared over at Allura and saw the princess frozen, her sky-blue eyes staring in disbelief at the Galra before her, the hands at the side were curled into tight, trembling fists. Hunk looked to Shiro and saw his leader’s face had gone pale and he was looking at Keith as if he’d never seen him before.

The tension in the room was rising so much that even Keith was staring to look as though he was starting to regret his decision. His tall ears flattened again his skull and he looked pleading over at Shiro as if willing his oldest friend to speak to him.  Hunk’s heart went out to him and he saw Lance lean in close to Keith, their shoulders brushing in a comforting manner.

Then a loud voice filled the air.

“QUIZNAK! HOW THE HELL DID I NEVER GUESS?!”

Every head whipped around towards Pidge who was staring at Keith with bright, excited eyes, looking more fascinated than frightened by Keith’s reveal. Besides her, Hunk saw that Coran too, lacked any fear, but was staring more at Lance than Keith with a curious, understanding gleam in his wise eyes. Hunk watched Pidge, fueled by the inquisitiveness that was the very essence of a pilot for the Green Lion, launch herself towards him, Lance, and Keith.

“PIDGE STAY BACK!” Allura ordered, causing Pidge to come a stunned halt, blinking in confusion at the princess. “We are not done here!”

Keith flinched back as though struck.

The Altean princess fixed her gaze back on Keith, finally regaining some control over her surprise. “Keith, why didn’t you say anything about this to us?” She then looked at Lance, eyes flashing dangerously. “And I’ll assume you knew about this as well? How could keep something as tremendous as this away from your team?”

Lance looked as if he were about to speak, but Keith butted in. “I forced Lance to be silent! Don’t punish him!”

Lance pushed Keith away and stared up at the princess, his blue eyes begging. “No Princess, I totally went along with it. Please whatever punishment you give Keith, give it to me as well.”

Keith stepped out in front of Lance. “Don’t listen to him! He wanted to tell you guys from the beginning. I just convinced him not to. If you’re sending me away, let Lance stay.”

Lance shoved Keith out the way, glaring. “You didn’t convince me of anything! I totally could have told everyone if I wanted to whether this mullethead wanted me to or not! But I didn’t! So guilty as charged! Lock me up!”

“This idiot has no idea what he’s talking about!” Keith snarled sending Lance a scathing glare. “I threatened him into silence with my scary Galra-ness!”

“OH PLEA-L _EEZ_! _AS IF I’M SCARED OF SOME OVERGROWN CHINCHILLA WITH A BAD HAIRCUT_!”

 ** _“SHUT UP AND LET ME HELP YOU NOT GET PUNISHED YOU IDIOT_**!”

The two paladins were literally yelling in each other’s faces at his point, noses almost touching.  Hunk had had quite enough. He stomped over and grabbed both of his friends by the collars of their shirts and pulled them apart.

“Guys stop fighting! Nobody’s going to get punished!” He yelled, holding his two friends up by their scruffs as easily as mother cat holding her two fidgety kittens. Both Lance and Keith blinked at their friend, silenced by his sudden forwardness. He set them down and looked up the Princess who stared back at him with slightly narrowed eyes.

“Hunk did you know about this too?” she asked, her voice high with disbelief.

Usually Hunk would be nervous at being addressed by the princess in such a tense and stressful situation, but Hunk was at his limit. He did not go crawling in dark tunnels, slay a giant bounty hunter monster alien, have his best friend literally die in his arms before being brought back to life through odd life-force magic, just to have this blasted secret tear his family and team apart.

The Yellow Paladin stared up fearless at the princess. “Yes, I knew though only recently. Keith told me at the start of yesterday’s mission. But I’m not mad that Keith and Lance didn’t tell me and you shouldn’t be either. They were scared- it’s as simple as that. And frankly I don’t blame them!”

Hunk threw his arms up in the air gesturing wildly. “If I found out that I secretly related to the very thing that we’re supposed to be fighting and defending the universe from- not going to lie- but I’d totally lie. No offense.” He paused and then added. “Except I’d probably tell Lance but only because he’s my best friend and I already have a lot of blackmail to help keep his mouth shut.”

Hunk did not have to turn around to see the offended expression Lance was shooting him.  He hid a smile and continued.

“My point is, princess, both Lance and Keith know how much the Galra have hurt you and Coran. They’ve destroyed your home and your entire race. They probably just didn’t want you to think differently of Keith if you found out, especially for something he can’t control.”  He saw Allura’s hard expression shift into something soft, almost puzzled looking. Hunk saw her glance over and focus on Lance.

The Blue Paladin met her gaze and a silent conversation seemed take place between the two dark-skinned individuals. The snow-haired princess blinked and her mouth fell into an almost silent ‘oh’ in realization, her crystal blue eyes lighting up as an understanding was reached. Lance looked down as if embarrassed.

Hunk turned his attention to Shiro who had been silent throughout the entire time. Their leader stared unblinking at Keith, his expression lost and his dark eyes muddled in confusion. “Keith….how long have you known about this?”

Keith bowed his head, avoiding having to look at Shiro with his golden Galra eyes. “Since me and Lance got captured by Lotor.”

Hunk saw hurt flood into Shiro’s eyes. Despite Shiro’s previous words of being alright with Keith keeping a secret from him, Hunk knew that Shiro was still pained that something as huge as this was kept from him.

“Shiro, Keith probably wanted to tell you as much as Lance wanted to tell me.” Hunk told Shiro. He caught his leader’s eye and  an understanding passed between them. “I’m sure the only reason Keith kept this from you was because how much the Galra hurt you when you were their prisoner.”

Shiro’s eyes widened at the accusation. He looked back at Keith. “Is that true?” Keith didn’t anything but his silence was enough of answer. “Oh Keith,” Shiro’s voice was thick with emotion as he shook his head. “How could you ever think I’d see you as anything but my closest friend? As my little brother?”

A low whine came from Keith and when Shiro opened his arms, the Red Paladin did not hesitate to fall in them.

“I’m sorry if I ever made you feel that you had to suffer alone.” Shiro apologized, gripping the younger paladin’s shoulders tightly.

“Don’t worry, he had Lance helping him.” Hunk pointed out, winking at his best friend who blushed at the gesture and even harder when Shiro looked over Keith shoulder to send Lance a grateful, heartfelt nod.

“I feel that I must too apologize to the two of you.” Allura graciously stated, stepping gracefully towards Keith who had moved away from Shiro’s embrace at the princess’s approach. “I have a grave feeling that I am greatly responsible for you and Lance’s prolonged silence.” She glanced pointedly at Lance at these words who sheepishly avoided her gaze. Hunk knew for certain that both of them were remembering the private conversation they had had cycles ago.

“Though I do wish you two had trusted your team and myself with this information at the very beginning, I now understand your reasoning in doing so.” The princess quietly stated. Her expression grew warm and friendly. “I hope that now we can all move on and prevent any more incidents like this from happening in the future. No more secrets.”

Hunk shared a stunned look with Keith and Lance, who looked at him with equal disbelief. “So that’s it? No punishments?”

“Keith can still be the Red Paladin?” Lance added, probably not even noticing the way he was clutching Keith’s clawed hand tightly.

Allura gave the young paladins an incredible look. “Of course- the Red Lion chose Keith. Who am I to dismiss the wisdom of the Lions of Voltron? I despise the Galra and what they’ve done, but I have witnessed Keith’s loyalty to his team firsthand. What kind of leader would I be to send away such a valiant paladin and good friend?” She shook her head. “As for punishments, I think today’s experience was taxing enough.”

“What about Keith’s dad? Will he still be a prisoner?” Hunk had to ask.

He saw the princess’s serene face harden drastically at the mention of Thace.  Despite all her love for Keith, Hunk could tell the Altean princess felt nothing but disdain for the Galra prisoner.

Coran took a step forward. “Princess, if I may add, I believe this Thace may be quite useful. From my interrogation, he seemed to have been a moderately ranked officer so he might be able to disclose some vital information to help in our resistance.” The advisor gave a pause and added in more persistent voice, “And we do owe him quite a debt for saving the life of our Blue Paladin.”

“I am quite well aware of that fact, thank you!” Allura snapped. She inhaled sharply through her nose and waited a tick to calm her conflicting emotions before speaking. “For now, Thace will remained cared for and watched in his cell.” At the sight of Hunk, Lance, and Keith’s distraught expressions, she added, “However within a few cycle’s time, if we deem his behavior and nature trustworthy, Shiro, Coran, and I shall decide whether or not to allow him freedom to walk around the castle under strict supervision and probation.”

Hunk let out a sigh of relief at the news. It wasn’t much, but at least it was a start. He wanted Keith to have a fair chance to bond with his father.

“Okay, are we all done with the sentimental stuff and fine details?” Pidge asked, sounding annoyed. “Cause I really want to touch Keith’s chinchilla ears right now.”

“Pidge, you can’t just touch a person’s ears without permission.” Shiro chided, frowning in disapproval as the Green Paladin forced a flushing Keith to lean down.

“Shut up Space Dad.” Pidge chirped, cooing with utter adoration as she tugged on the soft, furry ears much to Lance’s laugh-filled glee and Keith’s utter embarrassment.

Hunk watched the scene with a huge smile stretching across his face. The Yellow Paladin knew that were still a lot of issues left to work out regarding Keith’s dark secret. But at least the truth was out and their little makeshift family was still together. And perhaps even stronger than before.

And that was more than enough to make Hunk happy and content.


	15. ...The New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations are made and new bonds are formed between team Voltron, linking the paladins and their allies even closer than ever before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to sincerely apologize for how long it took to get the last chapter of this story up. I had originally wanted to have the story completed before season two, but unfortunately that did not happen. I have tried to get it written out, but these last few months my mind and heart hasn't been in the a happiest place. I'm starting to feel better, more like myself again, but I want to sincerely thank everyone that has read, left kudos, and have given comments to this story. It has been wonderful being able to share this story with the Voltron fandom and your support and encouragement has helped me so much. Thank you and please enjoy.

A surprise came the next day at the Castle of the Lions in the form of Keith asking Hunk if he could accompany him down the lower chambers to visit Thace. Hunk knew that Allura had dictated that no one was permitted to go see the Galra fugitive in his cell without her permission or without at least one other person with them for safety precautions.

Of course, Hunk had been rather surprised when Keith came to invite him to be his safety buddy on his first visit down to see his father. He said yes of course, but the large paladin had expected Keith to ask Shiro or Lance to go with him on such a personal occasion. Maybe the Red Paladin felt he owed Hunk for helping smooth over Keith’s reveal to everyone. 

Regards of the reasoning, Hunk found himself sitting beside Keith on the cold floor of the prison chamber looking through a light blue, translucent force field that made up the door of Thace’s cell. The Galra himself was sitting on a small cushion across from the paladin duo on the other side of the force field. Neither Keith nor Thace had spoken a word so far creating quite the awkward atmosphere for Hunk to have to suffer through.

Hunk shifted his aching bottom, trying to make himself more comfortable on the hard, metal surface before he decided to get the ball rolling on this visit. He asked politely, “So how are you holding up in there? Everything…um…comfy?”

Thace rolled his broad, furry shoulders, letting out a loud snort. “As well as can be expected, paladin, being a prisoner and all.” He made a vague gesture towards the space behind him. “But as far as prison life goes, I can’t complain. Least the cell is clean and I’m being fed.” The Galra stretched out his long legs in an almost cat-like manner, looking much more relaxed than before. “And I don’t have to listen to those tunnel dwellers’ annoying squeaks anymore so there’s that.”

Hunk got a quick glimpse of the inside of Thace’s cell- though it was very bare, he could see a bedded cot on the corner and small entry to what he assumed was the bathroom. Beside the bed there was an Altean book.

“Was that already in the cell?” Hunk asked, pointing to book.

Thace glanced over his shoulder and flicked an ear dismissively. “Naw, the lanky one- Lance as you call him- brought it last night. Figured I’d be bored. Can’t read a single word of it- pictures are nice though.” Thace scratched at his purple goatee and shot his silent son an amused smirk. “You have a very considerate mate, whelp. Lucky catch.”

Keith slammed his palms down on the floor and snarled, his Galra ears erupting from his hair like springs. “HE’S NOT MY MATE!”

Hunk wanted to laugh at the how much Keith’s voice cracked at the end of his emotional outburst but quickly disguised it as a short coughing fit.

Thace let out loud almost bark-like laugh, looking smug and pleased to have gotten a reaction from his sulking son. “Knew that’d get you to speak. You’re as easy to rile up as your mother was.”

At the very mention of Keith’s mother, Hunk felt his curiosity peak. He watched Keith’s own annoyed expression mellow into something akin to a desperate longing. “Am I really like my mom?”

Thace cocked his head and his golden eyes shimmered with a far-away look. “Definitely see more of her in you than me. Thank your stars for that at least.”  The Galra lightly shook his furred head, his expression and voice taking on a sharper, more serious tone. “But that’s talk for later, son. We have more urgent matters to discuss.”

Hunk saw Keith glare at this father, violet eyes flashing with impatience, “But I want to know more about mom…and why you left us!” He added with a low growl.

The Yellow Paladin could honestly understand Keith’s frustration. Poor guy probably has years of unanswered questions boiling up inside him from being alone and parentless most of his life.

On his on part, Thace did not even flinch at Keith’s harsh tone, but stared back levelly at his son and spoke evenly to the paladin, “Keith, I swear on my life that I will tell you everything you want and more, but this can’t wait. It concerns the safety of you and your teammates,” He eyed Hunk and added, “Particularly your not-mate Lance and possibly this guy as well.”

 “Um, my name’s Hunk.” Hunk quietly corrected, realizing that he had not formally introduced himself to the Galra fugitive. Thace gave the paladin a brief nod of acknowledgement.

 “What do you mean?”  The Red Paladin asked his father, the sharp lines of frustration slowly fading from his face to be replaced by wariness.

“From this point forward, you and your team need to keep a close eye out for any sign of Prince Lotor.” Thace warned in a low growl, “He went after you and the Blue Paladin once- I can bet all five lions of Voltron that he’ll go after the pair of you again and soon.”

Thace’s warning brought back memories of the Hunter’s dying words to Hunk’s mind.

**_“Think you’ve won, yellow fool?”_ ** _The Hunter hissed its dying voice laced with all the hatred and loathing it could mutter. **“Lotor will ssssend much worsssse than I. Much… much….worsssee.”**_

Hunk felt a chill crawl up his spine at the horrific warning of the dying bounty hunter. He could feel it deep within his twinging gut that both the Hunter and Thace spoke nothing but the truth.

However, Keith looked rather unimpressed. “So what else is new? We already have to keep an eye out for Zarkon and all of his goons. Lotor is just another Galra we have to watch out backs for.”

Thace narrowed his eyes until they were burning yellow slits and frowned deeply as he said, “Lotor is a vastly different opponent from his father, son.  Zarkon is a power-hungry tyrant, but Lotor is insane.”

“Insane?” Hunk echoed.

Thace smiled grimly, “Well, insane might not be the right word, but even among the Galra, Lotor is known for having a cruelty streak that far extends even that of the Emperor. Zarkon is ruthless because he truly believes what he’s doing is right for our people and the universe.”

Keith scowled at that statement, but Hunk kept a thoughtful silence. He remembered hearing Allura tell Lance that Zarkon had once been the Black Paladin before Shiro. Maybe it wasn’t so far-fetched to believe that at one point, Zarkon truly did have good intentions with his actions- enough that even the Black Lion had been willing to choose him as her pilot.

“Lotor, on the other hand,” Thace continued, breaking Hunk away from his thoughts, “just enjoys that act of causing pain and bloodshed. Worst yet, once he chooses a target, it becomes an obsession for him. Unlike daddy, he has no duties or responsibilities to uphold besides satisfying his own thirst for blood and revenge.”

“Sooo, you’re saying that we now have a bloodthirsty sociopath on our trail?” Hunk confirmed his stomach sinking with dread at the news.

Thace snapped two claws together, “Sociopath! That’s the word I was looking for! And yes unfortunately that’s the gist of it. You already escaped from him twice-which is completely unheard of for anyone on Lotor’s radar.” The Galra’s eyes darkened, “He already had a hatred for you before all this, Keith. Next time you encounter him, he’ll do everything within his power to guarantee a success.”

Hunk felt puzzled by Thace’s statement. “Why does he hate Keith so much?”

“Because the Red Lion was supposed to go to him apparently.” Keith answered with a huff, rolling his eyes as if the very idea of the Red Lion choosing Lotor was ridiculous.

“Lotor’s obsession with you goes even deeper than that, son.” Thace growled. “It’s more of the fact that you exist that Lotor hates you. You are both so alike yet as different as can be.”

 Hunk blinked, his eyes widening at the news while Keith bristled and snapped, “What do you mean? I’m nothing like that creep!”

“You are both Galra half-breeds.” Thace said.

“WHAT?!” Hunk wheeled back in shock at the news. Though he had never met Lotor in the flesh, he had assumed that any son of Zarkon would be full-blood Galra. He glanced over at Keith and saw that the Red Paladin looked just as surprised as Hunk at this information.

Thace looked back and forth between their shocked faces, his brows arching in mild surprise. “You two were not aware? It’s pretty common knowledge that Lotor is a bastard child. And Keith, you saw Lotor yourself- you cannot tell me he looks like any Galra you’ve ever encountered since coming to space!”

“What does he look like?” Hunk asked, turning to Keith.

Keith’s mouth twisted into a weird grimace at the question. “Um….he had long white hair? Kinda pretty in a way, I guess. Reminded me of Lance if he was purple and had ears like Allura.”

Huh, definitely did not sound like a description of any Galra Hunk had ever seen.

“But he’s prince of the Galra, shouldn’t Zarkon had wanted a full-blooded heir?” Hunk couldn’t help but ask.

Thace let out another bark-like laugh, “Oh, Zarkon wants a full-blooded heir all right! But unfortunately he has very little choice. From the rumors among the Galra elite, it is said that Lotor is the only child Zarkon has been able to conceive in the last two thousand years. The history books say he’s sired many heirs during his ten thousand year reign. Most Galra nowadays probably share a bit of his blood- I know for a fact you and I come from the bloodline of one of his first sons.”

Keith’s face fell into a disgusted scowl that made Thace laugh again. “Hah, don’t worry- I doubt Zarkon will be dragging our traitorous pelts to any royal gatherings.  But like I was saying, Zarkon may have had full-blooded heirs in the past, but they’ve long died out. He’s sired less and less throughout his reign and, as of now Lotor is the only child of Zarkon the universe has seen for quite some time.”

“Guess conquering planets and enslaving innocent aliens just takes up too much time for parenting.” Hunk guessed with a sarcastic edge.

Thace gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Nah, Zarkon- and the Galra- would love for a full-blooded heir. To many, halfbreeds are considered an insult to the race.”

“…Do you think that?” Keith quietly asked. Hunk felt a sliver of his heart crack at the bitter tone in Keith’s voice. Did his friend think that Thace abandoned his son on Earth because of his mixed blood?

Thace gave his son a long stare, his golden eyes shimmering with emotion. “Keith, a drop of your blood is worth more than the blood of every pure Galra combined.”

Eyes wide at his father’s words Keith opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it and stared stubbornly at the ground, eyes blinking rapidly and Galra ears twitching.

“Ahem, as I was saying,” Thace cleared his throat and resumed speaking to Hunk, probably to allow Keith a moment of privacy. “I think Zarkon’s unnaturally prolonged lifespan has altered his body to the point of it being nearly impossible to produce any heirs.  Even his birth was a difficult trial- it killed the mother whoever the poor soul was.  No, Lotor is definitely not Zarkon’s and the empire’s first choice for heir- and Zarkon doesn’t let his son forget about it.

“That’s…..kind of sad actually.” Hunk admitted. No mother, father hates him, and his entire empire doesn’t really want him- if Lotor hadn’t tried to murder two of his friends, Hunk might have felt really bad for the guy.

Besides him, Keith remained in a thoughtful silence. Hunk thought the Red Paladin was looking rather uncomfortable at hearing all the similarities he and the murderous Galra prince shared.

“Don’t feel too sympathetic, paladin.” Thace warned, “Lotor craves the respect denied by his halfblood status. The Galra listen to him only due to Zarkon and out of fear of Lotor’s immense cruelty.” He fixed his son with a steady look. “But you, my son, even as a halfblood Galra, have gained a status of respect as a Paladin of Voltron as well as the admiration and loyalty of a crew- things Lotor can only dream of achieving.”

“So, what you’re saying is that Lotor hates me… _because he’s jealous of me?_ ” Keith sounded so utterly bewildered by the concept that Hunk almost wanted to laugh. The mullet-bearing paladin really was oblivious to vast amount of equal admiration and jealousy that everyone at the Garrison, especially Lance, had felt towards the young prodigy pilot.

 “So basically Keith is Lotor’s main target?” Hunk concluded. “And the rest of us have to keep an eye on him, right?”

Thace’s yellow gaze blinked over at Hunk. “Of course I want you keep an eye out on my son, but I’d be more worried about the rest of you, especially the Blue Paladin.”

Keith’s violet eyes darkened like a gathering storm clouds. “What do you mean?” the paladin growled. Hunk could almost make out a hint of fangs peeking out from his lips.

Thace fixed his son with an almost pitying look. “Son, when I said Lotor is crueler than his father, I meant it. At least Zarkon had the decency to kill his enemies swiftly. But when Lotor hates you, he’ll make sure you suffer before he finally ends you. He’ll go after your team, Keith, especially the Blue One. I have no doubt that the only reason he wanted the Hunter to bring both you back alive was so that he could torment and kill the Blue Paladin in front of you before finishing you off.” Thace shot Hunk a serious look, “And now you’ll be on Lotor’s radar as well, Yellow one. Even if Lotor wasn’t present for the Hunter’s demise and your role in it, I have no doubt he’s fully aware of what happened. He has eyes and ears everywhere.”

Hunk felt ice-cold fear fill his gut at Thace’s ominous warning. He thought back to when Lance and Keith had first told the entire team about their encounter with Lotor and how Lotor’s final words had been a bloodthirsty threat…

_“He yelled that he was going to rip my head off with his bare hands while Keith watched and turn the Blue lion red with my own blood. Then make Keith pilot it before finishing him off too.”_

Hunk had though Lance was just exaggerating on the Galra prince’s threat, but by what Thace was saying, Lotor was cruel enough to actually carry out such an evil punishment. Hunk glanced over at Keith and could tell by the paleness of Keith’s face that he too was probably coming to the same conclusion. The Red Paladin’s expression twisted in an enraged scowl.

“I won’t let him hurt anyone- especially not my team.” Keith swore, eyes flashing with his usual determined fire. He looked ready to fight Prince Lotor with his bare hands.

Hunk felt a rush of warm pride go through him at witnessing how protective Keith was acting- not just towards Lance but all of them. His team His family.  He claps a large hand on Keith’s back, stating confidently, “We’ll be watching your back as well Keith.”

Thace gave both paladins a nod, satisfied by their words. “Just remember to be extra vigilant- especially when heeding distress signals. Lotor will use Voltron’s sense of mercy against it.” He leaned back and started to lazily pick at his fangs before addressing them more causally, “But enough of all that talk. Just let the Champion and Warrior Princess know what I said so they don’t come down and torture it out of me later.”

 “Shiro wouldn’t do that.” Hunk reassured him.

The Galra raised a brow. “And the princess?”

Hunk and Keith shared a look. Hunk thought it best not to answer that question. Their awkward silence made Thace let out a low chuckle.

“Eh, no need to be silent on my account paladins. I know Alteans hold no love for the Galra race- took ages to even get your own mother to look at my direction without wanting to slash my throat open!”

Hunk let out a laugh, “Oh yeah, that definitely sounds like Allura whenever anyone mentions you! She gets this pinched up look on her face and….” Sudden the words died on Hunk’s lips as realization sunk in to what Thace had just said. “WAIT HOLD THE PHONE! KEITH’S MOM WAS ALTEAN?!!”

Beside the Yellow Paladin, Keith was frozen with shock. He looked like he’d even stopped breathing.

Thace looked genuinely surprised. He faced his son with ears perked up to their fullest. “Did you truly not know? She never told you all?”

“…No.” Keith answered in a voice barely above a whisper.  “She never…..I never….how….”

Thace raised a clawed hand and rubbed it over his faced in mild irritation. “Ah, Romelle, you really did try to keep our boy away from space.”

Suddenly there was the sharp sound of something clattering to the ground. Hunk, Keith, Thace all turned in unison to see Lance staring at the trio with wide eyes. At his feet was a dropped trap with three now overturned bowls of green goo spreading across the floor. Hunk wondered how long Lance had been standing there. Had he heard that Keith wasn’t just Galra, but Altean as well?

“Romelle….” Lance repeated the name that Thace had uttered, his voice dull with shock.  Suddenly, before any of them could utter a question on Lance’s behavior, the Blue Paladin was dashing back up the stairway that lead from the lower levels of the Castle to the upper floor, yelling so loudly that Hunk was sure everyone in the Castle would be able to it echo.

_“ALLURA! ALLLLLURRAAAAA!  YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS! **ALLLLLUURRRRAAAAA!!!”**_

\-----------------------------------

 It took only a few minutes after Lance had retreated on them before a frantic looking Shiro rushed down to the cells, saying swiftly that Princess Allura ordered that everyone was to come up to the control room.

“Including Thace?” Hunk asked, slightly taken back.

Shiro shot Thace and Keith a wild-eyed look. “Especially Thace. Hurry, Allura wants me to escort all of you up.”

None of them said a word as they exited the castle holding area and quickly made their way into the control room where everyone was already waiting. Hunk saw Pidge and Lance standing to the side of some panels, Pidge looking very puzzled while Lance was fidgeting nervously. Hunk wasn’t quite sure why. Allura was pacing back and forth across the main deck, looking distracted and cackling with nervous energy. Coran was standing stiffly to the side, watching her. Though his expression was neutral, Hunk could tell that he was as tense as the princess. Hunk figured that Lance must have told them about Keith being half Altean.

“They’re here, princess.” Shiro announced, seeing that Allura was too unfocused to even notice their appearance.

At the sound of Shiro’s voice, Allura whipped her heard towards the latecomers, her crystal blue eyes fixing themselves on Keith and then on Thace. Her white eyebrows drew together into a furious-looking scowl.

Hunk felt his gut drop. Oh boy.

Coran took a step towards the Altean princess, hands held up passively. “None, princess let’s not act too rash-” his words were cut off when Allura speedily marched over to Thace and grabbed the Galra by the throat, roughly pushing him against the wall.

“Hey! Leave him alone Allura!” Keith growled, moving towards the pair to defend his father only to be held by Shiro.

“Don’t worry, Keith. Allura won’t hurt him.” Shiro assured him. Hunk felt that Shiro’s worried expression did not really match the confidence in his voice.

“Says the person that doesn’t have an angry Altean at his throat.” Thace retorted, though Hunk was relieved that did not sound very hurt.

“Answer my questions truthfully, Galra.” Allura commanded harshly. “Is it true your mate and Keith’s mother was a pure-blooded Altean?”

Sharp gasps of shock came from Pidge and Shiro though Hunk tuned it out to listen to Thace’s answer.

Despite the threat hanging over his head, Thace rolled his eyes. “Well, she had the long, furless ears, those weird scales on your faces, the odd shapeshifting gimmick, and the insufferable Weblum-sized prissiness akin to most of your kind. So yes, my Romelle was about as Altean as they get.”

The scowl on Allura’s face started to break and there was desperate undertone in her face as she asked, “And….Romelle was her name? Romelle of the House of Almora?”

The aloof indifference faded from Thace’s expression as he regarded the Altean princess curiously. “…..Yes. That was her name.” There was a question hidden in his statement.

Allura released Thace and slowly started to step back. Hunk looked around to see most everyone looked as confused as Hunk felt. Except for Coran who looked though someone had slapped him and Lance whose gaze was flickering worriedly between Keith and Allura.

Allura, her expression oddly blank, stepped towards one of the panels and tapped a button. Instantly a large holo-screen sprang to live in the middle of the room. In the middle of the screen came the hologram image of an Altean woman, looking close to Allura’s age and similar to her in appearance save for the pale skin and long, raven-black hair.

Hunk saw tears were started to gathering in Allura’s eyes as she pointed at the hologram image and demanded quietly, “Thace, is this the Romelle you knew?”

No one dared take a breath. Hunk saw as Thace took several steps forward, his golden eyes fixed on the image of the lovely woman with a kind smile and familiar violet eyes. His gaze held a hunger that spoke of years of longing and heartache.

The Galra reached out a clawed hand towards the image and a painful whine escaped him when his hand went through it. “My Romy…”

Allura gasped, a hand flying over her mouth, a stray tear escaping. Coran let out a surprised curse under his breath, “Great Quiznack…”  Keith was staring at the image, his eyes filled with pain and shimmering with emotion at the sight of his long-lost mother while Lance watched over him, pressed by his side worriedly. However, Hunk was still confused, and he could tell Shiro and Pidge were as well.

“Wait, so that’s Keith’s mom? How is that possible that you and Coran know her?” Pidge asked.

“To answer your question number two, Romelle was the daughter of King Alfor’s sister, Almora.” Coran explained.

“My dearest cousin.” Allura added in a choking voice.

Suddenly memories of the conversation that Lance and Allura had had about their families members came rushing back to Hunk. He felt the slap himself for not catching the connection. So that’s why Lance had freaked out when he had overheard Thace telling him and Keith about Keith’s mom.

“But wait,” Hunk piped up, realizing that some things weren’t adding up. “That can’t be possible! You and Coran are the only Alteans left and you’ve only survived for ten thousands because of space-freezing magic! How could your cousin have lived long enough to meet Keith’s dad and not be like really, really old?”

“Dude, Zarkon is still around and really, really old.” Lance pointed out. “And also putting out insane, sociopath kids as well. Not that that applies to you, Keith.” The Blue Paladin added quickly.

“Is it possible she was put to sleep like Allura and Coran?” Pidge suggested out.

“But how did she get to Earth?” Shiro asked.

“She came on the Blue Lion of course.” Thace answered bluntly. He looked around at the confused faces of everyone in the room and explained. “I went to Earth years ago to scout out of the locations of the Lions. Had a rather rough landing which resulted in me being stranded- but I managed to find the Blue Lion as a result. When I disturbed the Lion’s barrier, the machine awoke and Romelle came out trying to slash my head off with that spear of hers.” A fond smile appeared across the Galra’s face at the memory. “Much, much later, she had told me the Blue Lion had encased her in ice upon arriving to Earth and she had only been unleashed once I had trespassed in the Blue Lion’s domain. She figured that the Blue Lion saw me as a threat.”

At last Keith spoke, his violet eyes widening as he continued to stare up at the alluring image of the Romelle. “Wait…does that mean my mom was the Blue Paladin?” His voice was filled with awe at the prospect.

“That isn’t possible.” Allura said, looking just as confused as Keith did, her expression troubled and eyes full of distress. “Soren was the Blue Paladin during the war. I don’t understand why Romelle would be with the Blue Lion. Why she would be on Earth. None of this makes sense…”

Coran took a step forward, speaking a gentle voice. “Princess, if I may…” Every eye turned toward the ginger-haired advisor who was gazing at the Altean princess with a solemn gaze. “Before I joined you in our…um…extended encasement, I was there to witness King Alfor bring his plans of sending the lions away for safekeeping. The Green, Yellow, and Red Lions had all been sent away with their pilots, but Soren had been grievously injured during the final battle. Though I was put to sleep before I could witness the Blue Lion’s depart, it is quite possible that Soren had Romelle take the lion in his stead. He was quite loyal to the royal family after all and alas, you know as well as I how far Blue Paladins are willing to sacrifice for the ones they care for.” Coran sent a nod and fond smile in Lance’s direction.

Coran’s explanation was greeted by a stunned silence at the revelation. Eventually it was Thace that broke it.

“Romelle never mentioned this ‘Soren’ or any other paladin or person me.” Thace said in a quiet voice, “She was very stubborn about not saying anything about her home or past.  I figured it because I was a Galra enemy at first…and later because it hurt too much to think about it. She never called herself the Blue Paladin. Said that title belonged to someone for more worthy and that she would guard that lion until he or she came forth and keep it out of my filthy Galra claws.”

Hunk saw Allura’s chest puff out in pride. “My dearest Romelle would have made Alfor and all of Altea proud.”

“She was quiznaking insane.” Thace retorted though he was smiling, his yellow gaze adopting a far-off look. “Especially when she fell in love with me and I with her.”

“Then why did you leave?!” Keith erupted out suddenly. He stared at Thace, purple eyes shimmering with angry tears that refused to fall. “Why didn’t try and check on us? _On me?!”_

Sorrow flooded Hunk’s heart at the crack in Keith’s voice. He could only imagine how much Keith was suffering at the moment. 

Thace stared at his son, golden eyes reflecting nothing but regret and unbearable pain. “Keith, you have no idea how much I wanted to be with you and Romelle.  When you were born, I was content on staying on Earth helping Romelle guard that stupid lion and making sure both of you were safe and happy.”

“But you left…” Keith repeated in a cracking voice.

“Because Zarkon found me…found Earth.” Thace told him in a thick voice. Hunk heard traces of desperation in his words, as if he was willing his son to understand. “It took almost a year for one of Zarkon’s scouts to catch a signal from my downed ship- I thought they had had left me for dead by then. When I discovered they were coming, I had to act the part of a loyal soldier waiting to be rescued and pretend I knew nothing of the Blue Lion, Romelle, and you. It was the only way to protect you, Keith.”

Thace looked away, focusing on the dark, star-littered space that laid beyond the windows of the ship. “Romelle was strong and clever- I knew she would find a way for you and her to fit in on Earth. I left knowing that even if I would never see my mate or son again, at least they were safe, at least our new planet was safe and would not be a part of Zarkon’s war.” Thace bowed his head. “But in the end, it all happened anyway.”

When Thace looked back up at Keith, Hunk saw wetness in his yellow eyes.

“If I had known Romelle had died, nothing would have stopped me from coming for you, Keith.  I love you and I know your mother did as well. Trust me when I say she would have been so proud of who you’ve become. You possess all her courage and determination- you even managed to complete Romelle’s last Altean duty of reuniting the Blue Lion with her true pilot.”

“Yup, he sure did.” Lance said, with small smile, gently bumping his shoulder against Keith’s. A faint blush dusted the Red Paladin’s cheeks before he focused back on Thace and asked, “But why didn’t my mom ever tell me that I wasn’t human?”

It was Shiro who stepped towards Keith and answered soothingly, “Perhaps she thought it was better that you grew up thinking you were like other humans on Earth.”

“Romelle most likely would have suspected that all her people, her entire planet, were gone…just like I did.” Allura spoke, gracefully moving towards Keith. Despite the sadness that still glimmered in her eyes, Hunk saw there were sparkles of happiness bursting as well. She grasped Keith’s gloved hands.

“But we were both wrong!” She exclaimed, a serene smile blossoming spreads across her tearstained cheeks. “Do you not see what this means, Keith? Romelle was my cousin! You are her son!”

Keith stared into Allura’s excited face, his brow scrunched up in confusion. Slowly the meaning of Allura’s words started to dawn upon the Altean/Galra Halfling, his violet eyes widening in disbelief. “It….It means….”

“KEITH IS QUIZNAKING SPACE ROYALTY!” Pidge shouted out, her eyes bugging out behind her glasses.

“LANGUAGE PIDGE!” Shiro yelled the ecstatic grin on his face destroyed any bite his usual scolding would have.

“We’re family.” Keith whispered as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“We’re family!” Allura all but yelled, happily throwing her arms around Keith’s neck and pulling the bewildered boy into a bone-crushing hug. Lance started to back away from the two, but Allura reached an arm out and laughingly pulled the Blue Paladin into the hug as well. The three fell into a pile of giggles and one-armed hugs.

Hunk’s stomach felt as if it was about to burst with excitement and happiness for his friend. Not only had Keith discovered his some of his family, but Allura had as well. “So I guess this means that Keith is…um…like second cousin of Allura? Umm…or nephew…ummm….”

“I believe Number Two, that in terms of the royal Altean family lineage, Keith would fall rrrrrriiight in under first cousin once removed!” Coran piped up, his purple eyes twinkling. “Or should we call him Prince Keith now since he is next in line for the throne? Though technically, Romelle was a Duchess, so perhaps Duke Keith?”

“YES!” Lance and Pidge both cackled in delight.

“NO!” Keith all but wailed, still in being smothered to death between Lance and Allura. He wiggled his way out of their arms, blushing and ears twitching. “I’m fine being just Keith.”

Allura rose the floor, dusting off her dress and smiling in delight. “Oh, but you are much more than just Keith now! Oh my dear cousin, I have so much to teach you about Altea! About our family! You’ll be a proper Altean before you know it!”

Before Keith could stammer out a reply, Thace placed a clawed had on his shoulder and gave Allura the stink eye. “Excuse me, _Princess_ , but Keith also happens to be Galra as well. He’ll be learning to value those noble roots of his as well.”

Hunk could feel a storm starting to brew when Allura shot the Galra fugitive a heated glare, lips curled up in disdain. “Why of course. I would not dream of preventing Keith from learning all there is to know about the Galra culture.” She tilted her head innocently at Thace, smiling sweetly, “Tell me, are you going to teach him the best way to eliminate an entire civilization first or how to snap an innocent creature’s head off in one go?”

“I already know how to do tha-” Keith began to reply before Thace let out a heated growl.

“Your cousin, my mate, happened to enjoy hearing about Galra culture very much! And appreciated it when I snapped a grizzly bear’s head off as a courting gift!”

Hunk had faced enough family disputes to see this getting ugly pretty quickly and decided to interfere. “WHO WANTS SOME SPACE GOO?!” He called out.

Shiro immediately leapt into action. “Great idea Hunk!” He said, nervously looking between Thace and Allura who were in a glaring contest. “I say we celebrate the occasion with a big lunch.”

“My cousin was the curious one. Though I always did find Romelle’s taste in males quite questionable.” Allura retorted in a haughty manner, completely ignoring both Hunk and Shiro.

“Pidge come help me make lunch!” Hunk urged, starting to sweat nervously. Things in the control room were about to become a war zone.

“Naw, I’m good!” Pidge replied grinning like a loon and watching the confrontation between Thace and Allura with unhidden delight. She let out a yelp of protest when Shiro forcibly dragged her out of the room with Coran speedily following behind them.

Thace shot Allura a wolfish grin as he drawled, “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Romelle’s sense of taste was just fine…..”

Sensing an explosion about to happen, Lance leapt to his feet, sweating bullets. “Whelp! I’m going to help with food! Come on Keith! Let’s go with Hunk! _HURRY UP_!”

Both Lance and Hunk dragged a confused Keith between them, quickening their pace to the exit as Thace continued to speak.

“….After all, she _did_ taste me quite a lot. Always told me what a delightful experience it was too. Quiznak, could my Romy take a mouthful!”

Even halfway to the kitchen, Hunk and his friends could hear Allura’s loud shrieks of enragement and vulgar Altean cursing amongst the racket of the princess most likely attempting to murder Thace with her bare hands.

Hunk thought it best just to keep walking.

\-----------------------

Hunk was able to eventually whip up a large festive lunch with the help of everyone, especially Coran and Lance. Shiro and Pidge made sure to keep Keith occupied and to ensure that all the day’s events did not overwhelm the young Red Paladin. Allura and Thace (both roughed up but alive) were eventually dragged out to enjoy celebration. Both sat on either side of Keith, but thankfully remained quite civil throughout the evening (though not without a few barbed insults thrown out every so often). Hunk knew it would probably take a while before Allura warmed up to her late cousin’s mate, but the Yellow Paladin knew that it would happen eventually. Both of the Galra fugitive and Altean princess loved Keith enough to at least try and make it work.

When the afternoon stretched on and stomachs were pleasantly full, Coran started to entertain everyone with a recollection of one Allura and Romelle’s youthful, children shenanigans. Hunk took the opportunity to slip away and start cleaning up the mess left in the kitchen. He was surprised when felt a thin arm brush his own and turned to see Lance grinning at him.

“Mind if I join you?” the Blue Paladin asked.

Hunk grinned widely. “Just pull up some dirty dishes.”

For several minutes, the two best friends worked to clean the kitchen in a peaceful silence. Hunk had a feeling that Lance had something on his mind. It was rare that Lance was silent for every long unless he was thinking hard on one thing or another.

Once more, Hunk’s gut instinct proved correct.

“Hunk, I’m sorry.” Lance said in a quiet voice.

Hunk almost dropped the dirty bowl he had been carrying in surprise. He blinked at his blue-eyed friend in puzzlement. “Sorry? What for Lance? You haven’t done anything!”

Lance set down the wet rag he’d been wiping the counter with and looked at Hunk, his expression unusually serious. “For attacking you and arguing with you the other day.”

“No, Lance, you don’t have to apologize for that!” Hunk tried to assure Lance. It still pained him to even think about the horrible way he’d treated his best friend during that stupid argument. “I was completely out of line! I’d have punched myself too for saying the things I did!”

Lance shook his head and sighed. “But you were right, Hunk. About everything. I should have told Shiro everything or at least fought harder to convince Keith to confess his secret.” The Blue Paladin lowered his gaze shamefully. “But….you were right. As much as I hate to admit it, a part of me _did_ like having Keith rely on me as much as he did. It made me feel special….made me feel…well….important. To the team…to him….”

“Lance…” Hunk leaned forward to place his hands on his friend’s shoulders, giving them a comforting squeeze. “You are important- to Voltron, to Keith, to everyone…and especially to me. You don’t have to risk your life against some monster or keep a life-changing secret to prove that.”

Lance gazed up at the Yellow Paladin with tearing eyes and offered him a watery smile. “Thanks Hunk…you’re the best leg buddy a giant space robot could ask for.”

Hunk pulled Lance into a strong hug, trying to keep his own sniffles down. “I can say the same for you, leg buddy.”

The two best friends remained locked in a warm, comforting hug before pulling apart to hastily wipe away at their moist eyes. Hunk was happy that the air was finally clear from the last reminders of that horrible argument, but he felt there was still one last issue to address before everyone could finally be settled for good.

Steeling himself, Hunk took a deep breath and turned back around to Lance, saying with a straight face, “So when are you planning to confess to Keith?”

Lance let out a sputtering sound of surprise and stared at Hunk with overly wide eyes, brimming with indignant shock. “Wha….Why…What are you….Where is this coming from?!”

Hunk did not know whether he wanted to laugh in Lance’s face or shake his best friend for his obliviousness. “Lance, buddy, I have literally been spying on you two for the last two weeks. It’s completely obvious you like Keith and I’m pretty sure he likes you back too.”

Lance looked away, eyes darting around in every direction besides at Hunk. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re just friends.”

Hunk wanted to sigh in exasperation. “Lance, it’s okay if you like him- Keith is a really cool dude and he cares about you a lot.” He saw that Lance still look quite hesitant and softly added, “And if you don’t like him like that, it’s okay too. But we’re literally fighting in a giant war right now with a high possibility of meeting some very scary aliens in the near future.” Hunk thought back to Thace’s warning about Prince Lotor and tried to suppress a shudder, “So…if you do like Keith, then I think you should tell him.”

There was no need to say that there was no guarantee of a long future for any of them. Both Zarkon and Prince Lotor would be sure to send more enemies their way. They could die at any moment- the incident with the Hunter had proven that. That’s why Hunk felt the need to convince Lance to confess to Keith. If anyone could find a bit of happiness with the midst of this terrible, uncertain war in space, Hunk felt they should go for it.

Lance remained silent for a bit longer, his gaze still lingering at the floor. At last, he spoke in a quiet voice.

“His mullet is hideous.”

Hunk smiled kindly, “You think it’s cute.”

“I want to beat him in everything.”

“You want to do everything with him.”

“He’s impulsive and never thinks anything through.”

“That’s why he needs you.”

“I hate him.”

“You love him.”

“Yeah,” Lance finally said, looking up at Hunk to smile. “I do.” The russet-haired teen let out a loud, dramatic sigh. “I’m so disgusted with myself.”

Hunk nudged his shoulder, playfully. “You’ll get over it.”

Lance chuckled quietly, but after a moment or two, the smile slowly faded into a nervous frown. His blue eyes flickered up at Hunk full of uncertainty.

“What…” Lance paused hesitantly, swallowed thickly and began once more. “What if we’re both wrong? What if Keith doesn’t feel the same? What if…”  Hunk placed a finger over Lance’s lips, effectively shutting him up.

“Lance,” Hunk said, his expression dead serious. “You are the Blue Paladin, holder of the traits of trust and acceptance. So accept the facts and trust me when I say that Keith is really, really into you.  Jeez, the guy was nuzzling you like a cat for quiznak’s sake.” He presented Lance with a wink, “So go show him some of that good ol’ Lance confidence! And if he turns you down, I promise we’ll both sneak into his room tonight and cut off his mullet while he sleeps. How’s that sound?”

For a moment, Lance just blinked, his face a goofy mask of baffled surprise. Then he let out a giant snort, which melted into giggles which within ticks became full blown laughter. Hunk happily joined in and together the two laughed until their sides were aching and tears were rolling down their faces. It was silly. It was wonderful. It was what they needed more than anything in the world.

“Hahaha, oh, I’ll hold..hahaha…you to that promise, Hunk! Hahahah!” Lance chortled, gripping Hunk’s shoulder to hold himself up, “Who knew…hahaha…you had an evil side! Heheh!”

They both stopped their laughter as the door to the kitchen slid open, revealing a bewildered looking Keith. He blinked at the two friend still clutching each other before taking an embarrassed step back. “Sorry, I was going to see if you two wanted to train a bit…but…um…you seem busy so…”

“Lance isn’t!” Hunk called out. He gave Lance a rough push forward that almost knocked the lanker boy over. Lance stumbled, then righted himself and turned to give Hunk a half-hearted glare. The Yellow Paladin merely smiled and waved a hand to motion him towards Keith

Lance continued to frown for a moment more before it melted away to a grateful smile. Then he turned and started to walk towards the waiting Red Paladin.

Hunk watched the two depart and stood alone in the midst of the kitchen. The feeling of triumphant had faded into awkwardness.  A part of him wondered if Lance would really go through with the confession. Hunk knew that despite Lance’s flirtatious mannerisms, when it came to the real deal, he could be quite fluttered. Perhaps he should….

Hunk shook his head. “NO!” He said forcefully out loud. “No more spying! No more nosiness! I am a new, more respectful Yellow Paladin!” Hunk crossed his arms stubbornly across his chest, eyebrows furrowed. He was determined to not leave the kitchen until he was sure Keith and Lance were completely out of range.

A few ticks of silence passed.

Then a few more.

Oh the hell with it! Long last time wouldn’t hurt!

With his self-control fully crumbled and stampeded upon, Hunk ran out of the kitchen and quickly peeked around the corner to down the hallway that led up to the training room. As he suspected, both Lance and Keith were walking side by side, chatting with one another as they walked.

“So,” Keith began to speak in a quiet voice, “Does my mom being Altean bother you any?”

Lance shot Keith a look of surprise, an eye brow raised up high. “Dude, if finding out you’re half Galra didn’t bother me, why would finding out you’re half Altean would? At least I know Alteans!”

“Because it means I’m not human at all.” Keith said in a strained voice.

Hunk saw Lance smile fondly at Keith, “Dude, so what? You’re still the same Keith we all know and tolerate. Same greasy mullet, same undersized jacket, and same Red Paladin temper. No secret alien heritages are going to change that.” He let out a chuckle. “I’m just going to have to step up my game to keep up with my alien rival.”

“Right…rival…yeah.” Keith almost looked sad at the words. A short silence fell between the two for a few heartbeats. From his watch post, Hunk felt his own nerves start to jitter at the silence.

 “You know I have a secret too.” Lance at last spoke quietly, a trace of nervousness in his voice. “It’s not as big as yours, but I think it’s only fair that I share it with you.”

Keith shot his companion a mild glare, one of his ears twitching. “You don’t have to tell me anything, Lance.”

Lance played with his fingers nervously, avoiding Keith’s curious gaze. “Yeah, but the thing is…I kinda really want to.”

Keith gave him good-humored smirk. “What, you going to confess that you’re part mermaid or something?”

Lance said nothing, but leaned in close to Keith.

Hunk watched Keith’s eyes grow wide as Lance whispered softly into his furred ears, too softly for Hunk to ever hope to hear. The Galra Altean Halfling pulled back to stare intensely at the Blue Paladin, expression unreadable. Lance, blushing furiously, avoided the Red Paladin’s gaze until Keith placed a hand on his cheek and tilted his face up so his deep blue eyes met with Keith’s own. His purple-grey gaze was burning softly with emotion.

“I like your secret more.” Keith quietly said before pressing his lips against Lance’s eagerly awaiting ones. Instantly, Lance’s hand flew up to grip Keith’s raven-haired locks, deepening the kiss as Keith himself wrapped arms tightly around Lance, pulling him close into a loving embrace. They never broke away from their kiss.

Hunk had instantly whirl around to hide behind the corner as a loud, heartwarming coo of adoration escaped from him at such as heartwarming sight. It was too much!  He felt like this heart was going to burst with the cuteness of what he’d witness.

“I saw that.”

A loud yelp of shock erupted from Hunk and he nearly jumped out of his skin in fright. He whirled around to see Pidge smirking at him.

“O-Oh, hey Pidge! What’s up?” He smiled nervously down at the Green Paladin, “I was just heading back to the kitchen from…um…umm.”

“Spying on Lance and Keith locking lips?” Pidge chirped innocently.

Hunk glared at the shit-eating grin Pidge was shooting him. He folded his arms stubbornly. “You have no proof.”

The green gremlin known as Pidge shook her head, tutting in mock-disapproval. “For shame, Hunk. Hear I thought you’d finally learn your lesson about respecting others’ privacy.”

Hunk waved his hands around. “Oh come on! You know they’re going to be kissing each other all the time now! It’s not really considered snooping if they’re confessing and kissing in a public hallway!”

Pidge let out a loud huff, “Well, just don’t let me catch you hiding inside their bedroom closets to listen to private conversations.” The short girl shot her friend an evil smirk, “Cause you if do, you might find the closet doors accidentally manually locking themselves so that you’re stuck listening to the sweet sounds of a human and Galra-Altean having some good old bonding times under the covers.”

Hunk’s face paled. “You wouldn’t.”

Pidge laughed and did not bother to answer but instead whirling around to skip away back towards the dining hall. Hunk raced after her.

“Come on Pidge! You wouldn’t do that to your favorite Yellow Paladin! The whole closet incident only happened once and you know it! And it was the mice’s fault too! I was innocent! I’m not a snoop! _Honest! Pidge!_ **_PIDDDGGGGEEEEE!!”_**


End file.
